• 


IVES  AND  GRAVES  1 


TJxS>  OF  OUR  («>/5 


G.  S.  WEAVER,  D.D. 


AUTHOR  OF 


"THE  HEART  OF  THE  WORLD," 

"A)MS  AND  AIDS  FOR  YOUNG  MEN  AND  WOMEN," 

"  HOPES  AND  HELPS  FOR  THE  YOUNG," 

"WAYS  OF  LIFE,"  ETC, 


1896 

THE  NATIONAL  BOOK  CONCERN, 
Chicago,  U.  S.  A. 


COFTEIGHT, 
1883. 

A.  P.  T. 


Eights  of  translation  reservecL 


PREFACE. 


A  century  of  presidential  lives  is  now  inwoven  with  a 
century  of  American  history.  We  are  now  in  the  centennial 
decade  of  our  American  national  existence.  We  have  just 
celebrated  the  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  battles  of  Lex- 
ington and  Concord,  of  Bunker  Hill  and  Bennington,  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  the  evacuation  of  Boston,  the 
surrender  of  Cornwallis,  the  departure  of  the  British  from 
New  York,  and  last,  Washington's  surrender  of  his  commis- 
sion. Very  soon  will  come  the  centennial  of  the  adoption 
oi  the  constitution,  which  will  close  tne  centennial  period  of 
that  great  series  of  events,  which  gave  us  and  the  world  the 
American  republic.  This  book  is  designed  to  be  a  celebra- 
tion of  these  and  related  events,  all  in  one,  and  a  rehearsal 
of  the  leading  events  of  our  country's  first  century. 

It  is  thought  that  a  double  interest  will  attend  the  history 
by  having  it  strung  on  the  string  of  the  presidents'  lives, 
and  a  double  value  as  well,  by  making  the  most  of  the  book 
biographical  as  well  as  historical. 

We  are  drifting  away  from  the  great  fountains  of  our 
national  stream,  and  multitudes  of  those  who  live  under  our 
institutions  know  but  little  of  their  cost  or  meaning.  The 
later  generations  read  our  history  but  little,  and  our  foreign 
population  scarcely  at  all.  To  remedy  this  neglect,  by  put- 
ting history  into  biography  and  linking  biography  with  the 
highest  official  place  in  the  nation,  is  one  of  the  objects 
hoped  to  be  secured  by  this  endeavor. 

3 


4  PREFACE. 

By  the  great  interest  that  attaches  to  our  presidents,  on 
account  of  their  personal  worth  as  well  as  high  position,  it  is 
hoped  to  win  the  attention  of  the  young,  first  to  the  fine 
likenesses  presented,  and  then  to  the  sketches  of  the  lives 
'of  our  rulers. 

As  the  lives  of  the  presidents  so  overlap  each  other,  and 
so  many  lived  contemporaneously,  there  must  be  not  a  little 
repetition,  which  the  author  has  accepted  without  scruple  as 
necessary  to  a  fair  presentation  of  each  life. 

The  difficulty  of  reducing  the  great  amount  of  material  in 
the  personal  lives  and  historical  relations  of  the  presidents 
to  the  narrow  limits  of  a  moderate-sized  book  cannot  be 
realized  by  any  one  till  he  undertakes  a  similar  task. 

The  difficulty  of  reconciling  the  conflicting  statements  of 
different  biographers  and  the  differences  of  historians,  and  of 
supplying  the  deficiencies  of  their  information,  is  greater  than 
can  be  apprehended  till  one  has  had  the  experience  of  an 
effort  of  this  kind. 

The  author's  hope  is  to  so  win  attention  to  the  history 
and  biography  of  the  country  that  his  readers  will  get  a 
thirst  for  the  larger  works,  and  will  so  acquaint  themselves 
with  them  as  to  become  alive  to  the  principles  involved  in 
our  government  and  its  history.  Few  things  would  be  more 
beneficial  than  a  general  re-study  of  our  national  history. 
Patriotism  is  waning  for  want  of  it. 

CHICAGO,  January  2,  1884.  Gr-   S.  W. 


CONTENTS, 


CHAPTER  L 

THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  REPUBLIC 
The  Quality  of  Colonial  Men 
Our  Country  the  Outgrowth  of  Many  Causes 
The  Cause  of  the  Revolution 
The  Battles  of  Lexington  and  Concord 
The  Battle  of  Bunker  Hill 
The  Taking  of  Fort  Ticonderoga 
The  Evacuation  of  Boston  . 

The  Declaration  of  Independence 


17 

20 
21 
21 
26 
26 
26 
27 
29 


CHAPTER  II. 
GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 
FIKST  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 
Ancestry  .... 

Boyhood  of  "Washington   .... 

His  Education  .... 

His  Youth          ...... 

His  Heart  Sorrow      .... 

His  Surveying  Expedition  .  »  . 

Coming  Complications  .  .  . 

Lawrence  Washington's  Sickness     .  .  . 

A  Perilous  Mission    , 


35 
38 

41 
43 
44 
45 
46 
47 
48 


6  CONTENTS. 

An  Expedition  to  the  Ohio                ....  51 

Braddock's  Campaign                .                .                .                .  .52 

Washington's  Courtship  and  Marriage             ...  64 

Mount  Vernon            .                .                .                .                .  .56 

Personal  Characteristics    .....  59 

Commander-in-chief                   .                .                .                .  .60 

Boston  Besieged  .  .  .  .  .61 

New  York  in  Danger               .               .               .               .  .63 

Philadelphia  Captured       ....  66 

The  Campaign  of  1778              .               .               .               .  .68 

The  Campaign  of  1779                      ....  68 

The  Campaign  of  1780              .               .               .               .  .70 

The  Campaign  of  1781       .....  71 

Life  at  Mount  Vernon              .               .               .               .  .      ?4 

The  Confederation  and  the  Constitution           ...  76 

Washington  Elected  President                 .               .               .  .78 

Washington's  Administration            ....  80 

Washington's  Death                  .                .                .                .  .84 

The  Grave  of  Washington                ....  85 


CHAPTER  III. 

JOHN  ADAMS. 

•» 

SECOND  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Genealogy  .  .  .  .  .  .  .89 

John  Adams,  a  Teacher    .  .  .  .  .91 

Law  Practice  in  Braintree  .  .  .  .94 

Removal  to  Boston  .....  97 

Public  Life  Began     .  .  .  .  .  .99 

The  Colonial  Congress       .....  101 

Correspondence  with  his  Wife  ....    102 

His  Election  to  the  Provincial  Congress  .  .  .  102 

The  Second  Continental  Congress  ....    103 

Minister  to  France  .....  105 

Massachusetts  Constitutional  Convention  106 


CONTENTS.  7 

Commissioner  for  Peace                    .  •               •               •            107 

The  New  Commission               .  .               .    108 

Adams'  Publications  in  England      .  .               .               .109 

Made  Vice  President                  .  .                     HO 
Made  Second  President     .... 

[Retirement  to  Braintree            .                .  .                .                    H3 

The  Graves  of  the  Adamses             .  .               .               •           115 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 
THIRD  PRESIDENT  OP  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Ancestry    ...••••    H9 

His  Education    .  ....  120 

Personal  Appearance  .  .  ... 

Mr.  Jefferson  a  Lawyer     ..... 

Mr.  Jefferson  a  Legislator        .... 

Jefferson  Not  a  Speaker    .  .  •  • 

Loss  by  Fire  .  •  .  •  • 

Marriage  .  .... 

The  Approaching  Conflict        .... 

Nation  Building  ..... 

Mr.  Jefferson  Made  Governor  .... 

Mrs.  Jefferson's  Death       .  ... 

Appointed  to  Negotiate  Peace  at  Paris     . 

Commissioner  of  Treaties  of  Commerce 

Minister  at  the  Court  of  France 

Secretary  of  State  ..... 

Resigns  his  Secretaryship         .    ,  •  •  •    150 

Vice  President    .    .  ... 

The  Third  President  .... 

The  Purchase  of  Louisiana  .  •  • 

Jefferson's  Religious  Opinions  .  .  •  •    ] 

The  University  of  Virginia  .  »  »  • 


8  CONTENTS. 

Financial  Misfortunes               .               .               .               .  157 

Final  Departure                 .....  157 

The  Grave  of  Thomas  Jefferson                                              .  ,    158 


CHAPTER  Y. 

JAMES  MADISON. 

FOURTH  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Ancestry,  Youth  and  Education  .  .  .  .168 

Entrance  upon  Public  Life  .  .  .  166 

Made  a  Member  of  the  Continental  Congress  .  .  .168 

Elected  to  the  Virginia  Legislature  ....  168 

A  Constitutional  Convention    .....    170 

The  Federalist    .  .  .  .  »  .175 

A  Member  of  Congress  .....    175 

Secretary  of  State  .  .  .  .  .176 

Fourth  President       .  .  .  .  .  .177 

War  with  England  .....  178 

Retirement  in  1817     .  .  .  .  .  .179 

Mrs.  Madison     ......  180 

The  Grave  of  James  Madison  .  .  .  ,    181 


CHAPTER  VL 

JAMES  MONROE. 

FIFTH  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Ancestry  and  Youth     .  .  .  .  133 

A  Soldier  ......  185 

A  Legislator  ....  187 

A  Minister  Abroad  ....  188 

Governor  of  Virginia  .  .  .  190 

Secretary  of  State  .....  191 

Fifth  President          .  .  .  .  .  192 

Domestic  Relations  ....  196 

The  Grave  of  James  Monroe    ...  198 


CONTENTS.  9 

CHAPTER' VII. 

JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS. 

SIXTH  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Ancestry    ....                               .  199 

The  Time           ......  200 

His  Boyhood                                             *  .202 

The  Lawyer       ......  205 

The  Writer                .               .               .               .               .  .205 

Foreign  Minister                .....  207 

Ik'idus  Anew  ......    207 

Minister  to  Russia              .....  209 

Minister  at  the  Court  of  St.  James           .-              .               .  .    211 

Secretary  of  State              .                               ...  211 

The  President            .                .               .               .               .  .216 

Representative  in  Congress               .                .           •    .               .  220 

The  Grave  of  John  Quincy  Adams          .               .               .  .227 

CHAPTER  YIII. 

ANDREW    JACKSON. 

SEVENTH  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Ancestry    .               .               .               ...               .  .229 

Andrew  Jackson,  Senior                  .               .               .               .  230 

Jackson's  Boyhood  .....    231 

Jackson  the  Youth            .....  234 

Jackson  the  Lawyer  .....    237 

The  Legislator                   .....  239 

Judge  Jackson           .                ...               .               .  .    240 

Business  Embarrassments                 ....  241 

Personal  Complications                            .               .               .  241 

General  Jackson                .....  243 

President  Jackson     .               .                               .                .  .    249 

The  Grave  of  Andrew  Jackson                        .               .               .  253. 


10  CONTEXTS. 

CHAPTER  IX. 

MARTIN   VAN    BUREN. 

EIGHTH  PRESIDENT  OP  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Ancestry,  Birth  and  Boyhood  ....    255 

Van  Buren  the  Lawyer     .....  258 

A  Politician  ......    259 

Secretary  of  State    •  .  .  .  .263 

Vice-President  Van  Buren        .  .  .  .  .266 

President  Van  Buren         .....  266 

The  Grave  of  Martin  Van  Buren  ....    271 

CHAPTER  X. 

WILLIAM  HENRY  HARRISON. 

NINTH  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Ancestry    .......  273 

Birth  and  Youth                .....  274 

Opening  Manhood     ......  275 

Governor  Harrison            .....  281 

The  Tecumseh  War  .  .  .  .  .282 

Commander-in-Chief         .....  288 

The  Grave  of  William  Henry  Harrison                   .               .               .  292 

CHAPTER  XL 

JOHN  TYLER. 

TENTH  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 
Ancestry    .......    295 

Birth  and  Boyhood  .....  296 

Political  Career         ......    297 

Vice-President  and  President  Tyler  ,  .  .  303 

The  Grave  of  John  Tyler        .  308 


CONTENTS.  11 

CHAPTER  XII. 

JAMES    KNOX   POLK. 

ELEVENTH  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Ancestry    .......    813 

His  Boyhood      ......  313 

Mr.  Polk  a  Lawyer                   .               .                ,               .  .314 

Mr.  Polk  a  Legislator       .....  315 

Mr.  Polk  the  Congressman       .  ,            .               .               .  .    316 

Mr.  Polk  the  Governor     .....  318 

Mr  Polk  as  President               .               .               .               .  .321 

The  Grave  of  James  K.  Polk           ...  835 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

ZACHARY   TAYLOR. 

TWELFTH  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Birth  and  Boyhood   ....  .328 
Zachary  Taylor  the  Soldier               ...               .               .330 

President  Taylor       ...  .    340 

The  Grave  of  Zachary  Taylor          ....  843 

CHAPTER  XIY. 

MILLARD   FILLMORE. 

THIRTEENTH  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Birth  and  Early  Life                 .                .               .               .  .345 

Mr.  Fillmore  the  Lawyer  and  Public  Man       .               .               .  346 
Vice- President  Fillmore            .....    347 

Mr.  Fillmore  the  President               .                               .  348 
The  Evening  Repose                 .                               ...    351 

The  Grave  of  Millard  Fillmore  352 


12  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XY. 

FRANKLIN    PIERCE. 

FOURTEENTH  PRESIDENT  OP  THE  UNITED  STATES. 
Birth  and  Early  Life  .  .  .  .353 

Mr.  Pift-ce  the  Lawyer  and  Politician  . v  .  .  354 

President  Pierce        .  .  .  .  .  .    857 

The  Grave  of  Franklin  Pierce          .  .  ,  ,359 

CHAPTER  XYI. 

JAMES   BUCHANAN. 

FIFTEENTH  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Ancestry  and  Education  .                                               .  .    361 

Buchanan  the  Lawyer       .                .                .                .               .  '         362 

Buchanan  the  Legislator  .....    362 

Secretary  of  State              .                               ...  364 

Minister  to  England  .               .               .               .  .    364 

President  Buchanan          .                .               .               .               .  365 

The  Grave  of  James  Buchanan                                              .  •    367 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

ABRAHAM   LINCOLN. 

SIXTEENTH  PRESIDENT  OP  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Ancestry  and  Early  Life           .               .               .               .  .    370 

Early  Manhood                  .....  373 

Lincoln  a  Scldier      .  .....    375 

Lincoln  a  Surveyor                           .               .               .               .  377 

Lincoln  a  Legislator                                 .               .               .  377 

Mr.  Lincoln  a  Lawyer                      .               .               .  881 

Mr.  Lincoln  a  Congressman                     .               .               .  885 


CONTENTS.  13 

Return  to  His  Profession  .  .  . 

The  Great  Debate      .  .  .  .  .  .391 

The  Coming  Storm  ....  394 

Mr.  Lincoln  President  .....    399 

The  Grave  of  Abraham  Lincoln       ....  405 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

ANDREW    JOHNSON. 

SEVENTEENTH  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Ancestry    ...                              .  •    407 

Childhood  and  Youth       .....  407 

Early  Manhood         .                .               .               .               •  •    409 

Johnson  a  Legislator         .  .  ... 

Military  Governor      .                .                .                •                •  .412 

Mr.  Johnson  Vice-President  .... 

Mr.  Johnson  President                                                             •  414 

The  Grave  of  Andrew  Johnson  ....  417 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

ULYSSES    S.     GRANT. 
EIGHTEENTH  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Ancestry,  Birth  and  Boyhood  .  •  •    420 

Grant  a  Cadet  ...  . 

Lieutenant  Grant       ...•••    424 

AS& 

Grant's  Marriage  •  •  • 

Captain  Grant  a  Farmer  .  .  .  •    ^27 

Grant  a  Real  Estate  Agent  ...» 

Grant  a  Clerk  in  Galena  .  .  •  •  .428. 


14  CONTENTS. 

The  Opening  Rebellion  .                .                „                .438 

Brigadier-General  Grant  .....    429 

Lieutenant-General  Grant  .                                                             432 

President  Grant         .  .               .               .               .               .436 

President  Grant  the  Traveler  438 


CHAPTER  XX. 
RUTHERFORD  BIRCHARD  HAYES. 

NINETEENTH  PRESIDENT  OP  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Birth  and  Boyhood   .  .  .  .  .  .442 

The  Youth  and  Student    .....  443 

Mr.  Hayes  the  Lawyer              .....  444 

Mr.  Hayes  the  Soldier       .....  444 

Governor  Hayes        ......  44G 

Mr.  Hayes  as  President     .....  449 

Mr.  Hayes'  Marriage  and  Family             ....  450 

The  Hayes  Home              .....  452 

CHAPTER  XXL 

JAMES  ABRAM-  GARFIELD. 
TWENTIETH  PRESIDENT  OP  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Ancestry     .......    453 

Birth,  Boyhood  and  Youth              ....  455 

Garfield's  School  Life               .               .               .               .  .460 

Garfleld  a  Teacher             .....  462 

Colonel  Garfield        .               .               .               .               .  .465 

Congressman  Garfleld        .....  467 

President  Garfleld     .               .               .               .               .  .468 

Assassination     .                .....  469 

The  Grave  of  Garfield  .    470 


CONTENTS.  15 

CHAPTER  XXII. 

CHESTER  ALLAN  ARTHUR, 

TWENTY-FIRST  PRESIDENT  OP  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Ancestry  and  Boyhood     .  ...  473 

Mr.  Arthur  the  Lawyer  .  ...  474 

Mr.  Arthur  the  Politician  ....  475 

Vice-President  and  President  .  479 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 

TWENTY-SECOND  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Ancestry       .                                            ...  484 

Birth  and  Education         ....  .    485 

A  Teacher                  .                            .  486 

"  Go  West,  Young  Man "                             .              .              .  .486 

A  Student  of  Law      ......  487 

Assistant  District  Attorney             .              .             .              .  .    48^ 

A  New  Partnership   ......  489 

Sheriff  of  Erie  County      ....  .489 

Legal  Distinction                                   ....  489 

Mayor  of  Buffalo                            .              .              .             .  .490 

Governor  of  New  York           .              .                                          .  492 
Candidate  for  the  Presidency         .....    494 

Inauguration               ......  497 

Rose  Elizabeth  Cleveland  .....    497 

Personal  Appearance               .                            ...  497 

His  Family          .              .              .              .              .              .  .498 

Marriage,  Administration,  and  Renomination  for  the  Presidency  498 


16  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTEK   XXIV. 

AN  ANALYSIS  OF  .THE  AMERICAN  GOVERNMENT    .  481 

The  Preamble             .....  482 

Article  I            .....  433 

Article  II                                ....  435 

Article  III        ....  435 


CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Article  I              .....  437 

Article  II                                  .              .              .              .  493 

Article  III            .....  495 

Article  IV     .              .              .              .              .              .  49(5 

Article  V             ...                            .  497 

Article  VI     ......  493 

Article  VII          ....  498 

AMENDMENTS. 

Article  I  .  ....     500 

Article  II        .  .  .  .  .  .500 

Article  III            .              .              .              .              .              .  m     500 

Article  IV    .......  500 

Article  V             .              .             .             .             .              .  .    500 

Article  VI     .......  501 

Article  VII          ......  501 

Article  VIII 601 

Article  IX           .              .              .              .             .              .  .     501 

Article  X      ........  501 

Article  XI           .              .              .             .             .              .  .502 

Article  XII  .  .  .  .  .  .502 

Article  XIII        .              .              .              .              .              .  t     503 

Article  XIV                             503 

Article  XV         .  504 


L'HE  LIVES  AND  GRAVES  OF  OUR  PRESIDENTS, 


CHAPTER  I. 


THE  BEGINNING  OP  THE  EEPUBLIC. 

T  is  in  the  nature  of  men  to  honor  and  love  their  rulers; 
and  from  this  impulse  of  their  nature  the  people  of  all 

Inations  have  not  only  magnified  their  rulers  while  they 
!ived  ;  but  preserved  their  histories,  and,  in  the  olden  time, 

deified  them  after  they  were  dead. 

No  nation  has  had    greater  occasion   to  profoundly 

respect  their  rulers  than  the  people  of  the  United  States, 
for  no  nation  has  ever  had  greater  capacity  and  worth,  nobler 
character  and  manhood  in  high  places  than  this.  From  the 
beginning,  the  people  have  in  the  main  selected  great  and  true 
men  for  their  public  servants.  Almost  with  instinctive  knowledge 
have  they  put  worth  into  power  and  honored  with  constant  devo- 
tion the  public  service  which  deserved  it.  There  is  scarcely  an 
instance  in  our  national  history  which  warrants  the  old  slander 
that  republics  are  ungrateful.  On  the  contrary,  this  republic  has 
gloried  in  its  great  and  good  men  and  sought  them  for  places  of 
public  trust  and  honor.  And  as  their  names  fall  deeper  into  the 
shadows  of  the  past,  the  more  sacred  do  they  become  in  the  grati- 
tude of  the  new  generations.  Even  the  new  comers  to  our  shores 
join  in  the  grateful  memories  of  the  noble  dead  who  served  the 
republic  in  its  early  days  and  put  something  of  their  worth  and 

2  17 


18  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

power  into  its  laws  and  institutions.  The  history  of  the  respecj 
that  has  been  given  to  them  through  the  successive  generations 
since  their  departure  is  a  quickening  incentive  to  all  aspirants 
for  public  favor  to  imitate  their  virtues  and  copy  their  devotion 
to  the  public  good.  Vigor  of  mind,  high  virtue,  generous  sym- 
pathy, manliness,  private  purity,  domestic  honor  and  unselfish 
devotion  to  the  public  good  in  men  in  high  places,  always  have, 
and  do  now,  command  the  deepest  respect  of  the  American 
people ;  they  have  been  trained  to  this ;  it  is  in  their  blood. 
They  came  of  good  Anglo-Saxon  stock.  Our  early  English 
ancestors  venerated  great  names  and  worth  among  the  ruling 
classes.  They  profoundly  honored  the  king  and  all  royalty.  They 
were  slow  to  see  any  wrong  in  the  king.  His  authority  had 
sanctity  in  it  in  their  mind.  When,  by  the  selfish  greed  of 
power  and  love  of  royalty,  George  III.  disenchanted  their  minds 
of  the  glamour  of  royalty,  they  turned  away  from  hereditary 
royalty  with  disgust,  but  soon  learned  to  fix  their  loyal  affections 
on  royalty  of  mind  in  the  noble  rulers  of  their  own  choice,  who 
answered  infinitely  better  to  their  ideals  of  men  in  authority. 
From  royal  loyalists  they  changec?  to  democratic  loyalists.  The 
seed  of  respect  for  "the  powers  that  be,"  planted  in  the  blood  of 
their  race  by  long  obedience  to  •"  constituted  authority,"  brought 
forth  a  full  harvest  in  a  republican  government.  The  trained  and 
christianized  respect  for  rulers  grew  in  due  time  into  respect  foi 
the  masses  of  men  which  republican  rulers  represent.  In  their 
minds  their  chosen  rulers  stood  for  the  whole  people.  The  presi- 
dent represented  the  whole  people  of  the  country,  and  was  to  be 
respected  not  only  for  his  own  worth  as  the  head  of  the  nation  ; 
but  as  the  symbol  of  all  the  people  and  their  rights  and  inter- 
ests. He  was  more  than  a  king;  he  was  the  chosen  ruler  of  the 
people;  chosen  not  to  rule  in  any  right  of  his  own,  but  to  rule 
as  their  voice  and  hand;  not  to  enforce  his  own  will,  but  to 
execute  their  laws,  to  enforce  their  will.  By  the  change  from  a 
monarchical  to  a  republican  form  of  government,  respect  for 
rulers  as  persons  was  changed  to  respect  for  rulers  as  the  embodi- 
ment of  the  people's  will  and  worth.  The  president  stood  for 
the  nation:  not  for  states,  but  for  the  confederated  embodiment 


THE   BEGINNING   OF  THE   REPUBLIC.  19 

of  the  whole  people.  In  this  new  aspect  of  rulers  they  became 
objects  of  higher  and  deeper  interest.  They  stood  for  the  people 
who  had  chosen  them;  for  the  nation  as  an  organized  common- 
wealth, as  well  as  in  their  oAvn  worth.  This  new  dignity  of 
rulership  our  forefathers  realized  in  its  full  force. 

The  seeds  of  the  republic  were  planted  in  a  distrust  of  the 
king.  As  that  grew,  the  necessity  for  self-government  became 
more  apparent.  Slowly,  but  absolutely,  at  last,  their  loyalty 
and  affection  for  the  king  died,  and  self-government  was  the  one 
only  form  of  national  existence  to  adopt.  They  adopted  it  in 
solemn  recognition  of  all  that  it  meant,  and  so  adopting  it  they 
realized  the  momentous  significance  and  responsibility  of  the 
ruler  of  a  free  people  who  lived  and  acted  for  them,  in  the 
heart  of  a  new  continent,  growing  rapidly  in  every  element  of 
power  and  greatness,  with  the  eyes  of  the  world  turned  upon 
them,  and  in  an  age  ripe  for  great  revolutions.  Their  peculiar, 
and  as  they  thought  providential,  history  deepened  the  solem- 
nity of  what  they  did. 

Then,  their  first  president  was  as  a  man  and  a  magistrate  so 
almost  infinitely  above  the  king  they  once  loved  but  now  loathed, 
and  had  done  so  much,  and  with  such  singular  devotion  to  the 
public  good  and  every  high  obligation  in  securing  their  liberties, 
that  all  their  old  respect  for  rulers  returned  to  their  hearts  with 
increased  tenderness  and  force.  The  president  became  more  to 
them  than  the  king  ever  was.  In  his  person  there  centered  all 
the  profound  regard  they  had  learned  to  cherish  for  the  people, 
for  republican  institutions,  and  the  humanity  of  which  they 
formed  a  part.  The. baptism  of  suffering  and  sorrow  through 
which  they  passed  in  the  change  from  the  king  to  the  president 
gave  them  one  of  the  great  lessons  that  went  deepest  into  their 
hearts,  and  started  in  the  new  nation  a  tide  of  profound  respect 
for  the  chief  magistrate  who  was  the  people's  authority. 

No  other  nation  ever  had  so  fortunate  a  beginning,  or  so  rich 
a  pupilage  through  an  infancy  abounding  in  lessons  of  wisdom 
and  worth,  or  so  grand  an  entrance  into  the  manhood  of  national 
life.  Such  a  beginning  prophesied  all  the  greatness,  worth  and 
power  which  have  followed. 


£0  OUR    PRESIDENTS 

The  colonial  school  of  America  was  rough,  but  solid  and 
genuine ;  and  trained  a  people  such  as  the  world  never  saw  before, 
as  the  seed  of  a  new  nation  and  a  new  era  of  mankind. 


THE   QUALITY   OF   COLONIAL   MEN. 

In  re-studying  the  lessons  of  that  school  nothing  is  clearer 
than  that  the  men  of  the  colonies  were  superior  to  the  men  of 
the  British  parliament  with  whom  they  contended.  They  were 
better  students  of  English  law  and  history,  and  especially  better 
in  the  principles  of  the  English  constitution.  They  were  better 
philosophers;  more  acute  and  comprehensive  in  their  views  of 
government;  more  loyal  to  reason  and  the  lessons  of  human 
nature,  and  greatly  more  faithful  in  the  application  of  Christian 
principles  to  human  affairs.  The  debates  in  parliament  com- 
pared with  the  speeches  in  the  public  meetings  in  the  colonies, 
indicate  clearly  that  the  leaders  in  thought  in  the  colonies  were 
the  profounder  and  better  men.  And  the  people's  appreciation 
and  acceptance  of  that  thought,  compared  with  the  prevailing 
style  of  thought  among  the  English  people,  showed  that  the 
masses  of  the  colonial  people  had  gained  upon  the  people  of  the 
mother  country  by  their  hard  colonial  school.  They  had  a 
clearer  hold  upon  principles  and  a  greater  loyalty  to  them;  knew 
and  appreciated  human  rights  better,  and  were  truer  to  them; 
carried  with  a  heartier  faith  the  teachings  of  the  Christian 
religion  to  their  practical  results,  and  believed  more  in  indi- 
vidual responsibility  and  power.  The  result  was,  that  both 
leaders  and  people  became  more  assured  in  the  righteousness  of 
their  convictions,  and  more  positive  in  maintaining  them.  They 
became  a  people  of  thinkers  who  acted  on  their  thoughts.  Free- 
dom, human  rights,  personal  responsibility,  the  authority  of 
rulers,  the  duties  of  people,  were  themes  they  studied  and  dis- 
cussed. And  this  study  had  developed  a  power  among  the 
leaders  able  to  cope  with  any  in  the  English  parliament,  and 
among  the  people  a  stalwartness  of  conviction  and  will  superior 
to  what  prevailed  among  the  English  people. 


THE   BEGINNING   OF  THE   REPUBLIC.  21 

OUR   COUNTRY   THE   OUTGROWTH   OF   MANY    CAUSES. 

The  establishment  of  our  nationality  was  due  to  many 
causes.  The  church  as  the  outgrowth  of  Romanism — absolute 
power — imperialism — had  done  its  worst.  With  a  cruel  tyranny 
it  had  played  lord  of  men  and  nations,  of  thought  and  con- 
science, of  education  and  taxation,  till  it  had  produced  more  or 
less  protestantism  in  all  countries.  And  protestantism  in  con- 
flict with  Romanism  had  produced  more  or  less  liberalism.  And 
protestantism  and  liberalism  had  both  trained  a  great  body  of 
free  thinkers  in  all  the  more  advanced  countries.  In  France 
liberal  thought  was  very  powerful.  With  much  good  it  did 
much  evil.  It  prepared  the  way  to  give  much  help  to  the 
English  colonies.  In  England  protestantism  and  liberalism  had 
weakened  the  power  of  kingcraft  and  strengthened  the  power 
of  the  people.  In  the  English  colonies  of  America  protestantism 
was  of  the  freest  and  most  personal  kind,  having  no  interest  in 
kingcraft  and  great  sympathy  with  popular  faith  and  rights. 
Everywhere  a  great  struggle  was  coming  on  between  consoli- 
dated power  and  the  power  of  the  people — between  kingcraft 
and  popular  rights.  The  struggle  on  the  part  of  King  George 
and  his  parliament  was  to  sustain  kingcraft  against  the  growing 
doctrine  of  popular  rights.  The  logic,  philosophy  and  morality 
were  all  on  the  side  of  the  colonies,  and  these  were  not  slow  to 
produce  character  and  power  to  sustain  them.  The  world  was 
ready  for  a  great  change.  Roman  imperialism  had  run  its  course 
to  its  own  ruin.  Kingcraft  must  sink  with  it.  The  final  struggle 
for  these  ancient  powers  came  with  the  American  colonies  because 
they  were  most  advanced  in  intelligence  and  moral  character  and 
most  animated  by  the  true  spirit  and  power  of  the  Christian 
religion. 

THE   CAUSE    OF   THE    REVOLUTION. 

The  particular  question  at  issue  was  the  right  of  the  English 
parliament  to  tax  the  colonies.  The  king  and  parliament  claimed 
the  absolute  right,  and  to  maintain  it  passed  various  kinds  of  tax 
laws  and  sought  in  arbitrary  ways  to  enforce  them;  and  in  con- 


22  OUE   PKESIDENTS. 

nection  with  them  passed  repressive  laws  against  nearly  all  kinds 
of  manufactures.  They  taxed  all  goods  imported  into  the  colo- 
nies, and  forbade  all  manufactures.  The  colonies  claimed  that 
as  British  subjects  they  could  not  be  taxed  against  their  will,  or 
by  a  parliament  in  which  they  had  no  representation.  They  said 
taxation  without  representation  is  against  English  law  and  the 
constitution  of  the  realm,  and  also  against  right  and  natural 
law.  And  here  they  stood  and  for  years  argued  this  question  in 
all  the  forms  in  which  it  was  presented,  quoting  all  the  best 
English  lawyers  and  statesmen,  and  claiming  that  the  free- 
dom of  the  British  subject  Avas  invaded  by  the  doctrines 
and  practices  of  parliament.  Every  colony  produced  men 
equal  to  the  occasion.  In  South  Carolina  Lynch,  Gadsdeii  and 
Rutledge  with  great  clearness  and  power  defended  the  colonial 
position.  In  Virginia  Patrick  Henry  and  Eichard  Henry  Lee, 
and  others,  with  logic  and  transcendent  eloquence  fired  the 
hearts  of  the  people  with  a  knowledge  of  their  rights  and  free- 
dom as  British  subjects.  In  Pennsylvania  John  Dickinson,  the 
farmer  writer,  wrote  in  vigorous  articles  the  true  doctrines  of 
English  freedom,  which  were  published  in  all  the  colonial  papers 
and  read  and  studied  by  all  the  people;  read  in  book  form  in 
England  and  translated  into  French,  and  won  for  the  colonies 
great  sympathy  in  France.  Benjamin  Franklin,  philosopher, 
writer,  practical  statesman,  friend  of  humanity,  lent  the  ener- 
gies of  his  great  mind  to  maintain  the  colonial  doctrine  of 
English  rights  against  parliamentary  usurpation.  William  Liv- 
ingston and  many  like  him  in  New  York ;  Roger  Sherman  in 
Connecticut;  James  Otis,  Samuel  Adams,  John  Kancock  and 
Mayhew  Thatcher,  in  Massachusetts,  kept  constantly  before  the 
people  their  charter  as  well  as  their  natural  rights.  The  world 
had  never  seen  an  instance  of  a  whole  people  studying  so  pro- 
foundly their  political  and  natural  rights,  and  so  peacefully  and 
religiously  maintaining  them.  The  lawyers  and  people  of 
England  were  in  a  large  majority  witli  their  parliament,  in  favor 
of  taxing  the  colonies  and  prohibiting  their  manufactures.  The 
argument  of  the  colonies,  as  stated  by  their  public  men,  their 
press,  ministers  and  legislative  enactments,  was  about  this,  as 


THE   BEGINNING    OF  THE    REPUBLIC.  23 

stated  by  Mr.  Bancroft  in  his  history  of  the  United  States: 
"The  law  of  nature  is  the  law  of  God,  irreversible  itself  and 
superceding  all  human  law.  It  perfectly  reconciles  the  true 
interest  and  happiness  of  every  individual  with  the  true  interest 
and  happiness  of  the  universal  whole.  The  laws  and  constitu- 
tion of  the  English  government  are  the  best  in  the  world; 
because  they  approach  nearest  to  the  laws  God  has  established  in 
our  nature.  Those  who  have  attempted  this  barbarous  violation 
of  the  most  sacred  rights  of  their  country  deserve  the  name  of 
rebels  and  traitors,  not  only  against  the  laws  of  their  country 
and  their  king,  but  against  the  laws  of  Heaven  itself." 

But  their  arguments  failed  to  stay  the  resolute  Avrong-head- 
edness  of  the  king  and  parliament,  and  law  after  law  was 
enacted  to  tax  and  oppress  them.  These  laws  they  resisted  in 
every  way  open  to  an  intelligent  and  resolute  people.  They 
thoroughly  studied  and  discussed  all  questions  relating  to  them; 
ministers  preached  about  them;  the  press  was  full  of  them. 
They  made  common  cause  and  formed  a  colonial  congress. 
From  South  Carolina  to  New  Hampshire  they  became  of  one 
mind.  They  closed  their  ports  against  English  goods  and  wore 
homespun  clothes,  and  did  without  the  common  comforts  to 
which  they  had  been  accustomed.  They  made  it  uncomfortable 
for  soldiers  quartered  upon  them,  and  for  oppressive  colonial 
governors.  While  they  kept  the  peace,  they  resisted  and  made 
ineffectual  the  unjust  laws  of  parliament.  Merchants  suspended 
their  lucrative  calling  to  see  the  goods  sent  for  their  customers 
returned  to  England  in  the  same  vessels  in  which  they  came. 
The  rich  vied  with  the  poor  in  their  loyalty  to  their  conviction 
that  it  was  wrong  to  pay  unjust  taxes.  They  made  every  new  law 
which  embodied  the  unjust  principle  of  taxation  without  repre- 
sentation inoperative,  and  all  the  while  increased  the  determina- 
tion in  the  king  and  parliament  to  enforce  their'  laws  with 
military  power.  At  last  the  final  test  came  on  their  determi- 
nation to  tax  tea,  just  to  maintain  their  right.  So,  Avhile  other 
tax  laws  were  in  the  main  given  up,  a  tax  was  laid  on  tea,  and 
ships  loaded  for  Boston,  New  York,  Philadelphia  and  Charleston. 
Time  tea  ships  were  sent  into  Boston  harbor.  The  people,  in 


24  OUR    PRESIDENTS. 

mass  meeting,  urged  their  immediate  return  to  England.  The 
governor  refused  to  give  the  shipmasters  passes  to  go  out  of  the 
harbor  by  the  ports.  "A  meeting  of  the  people  had  been  in  ses- 
sion a  long  time,  and  it  was  an  hour  after  dark  when  word  came 
that  the  governor  had  refused  the  pass.  Then  Samuel  Adams 
rose  and  said:  "This  meeting  can  do  nothing  more  to  save  the 
country."  Instantly  a  shout  and  a  warwhoop  was  heard  at  the 
door.  Forty  or  fifty  men,  disguised  as  Indians,  rushed  by 
toward  Griffin's  wharf,  where  the  tea  ships  were  fast.  Hancock, 
Adams  and  the  people  followed  in  haste.  Guards  were  posted 
to  keep  off  spies.  The  men  in  disguise  boarded  the  ships,  and  in 
three  hours  ali  the  tea,  three  hundred  and  forty  chests,  was 
emptied  into  the  sea.  John  Adams  afterward,  in  a  letter  to 
Warren,  said:  "All  things  were  conducted  with  great  order, 
decency  and  perfect  submission  to  government."  The  people  on 
the  wharf  and  in  the  streets  were  so  still  that  every  blow  in 
breaking  open  the  chests  was  distinctly  heard. 

New  York  heard  of  it  before  its  tea  ships  arrived  and  was 
anxious  to  do  likewise,  but  the  ships  returned  to  England  at 
once.  At  Philadelphia  five  thousand  people  met  and  allowed  the 
tea  ship  to  come  no  nearer  than  Chester,  four  miles  below  the 
city,  from  which  point  it  returned  to  London  immediately  with 
its  tea  and  a  new  freight  of  wisdom  on  board  to  carry  back  to 
parliament  and  the  king.  At  Charleston  the  tea  was  unloaded 
into  a  cellar  where  it  rotted ;  no  South  Carolina  tea  drinker 
having  any  appetite  for  falsely-taxed  tea.  So  ended  the  tea- 
taxing,  but  not  the  quarrel  which  it  provoked. 

Parliament  closed  the  port  of  Boston,  called  the  legislature 
to  Salem,  forbade  all  public  carrying  business  "in  Boston,  desig- 
nated its  principal  citizens  for  trial  in  England  on  treasonable 
charges,  quartered  soldiers  on  the  public  common,  ordered  war 
ships  and 'munitions  of  war  into  the  harbor,  made  Boston  the 
headquarters  of  the  commanding  general  of  all  the  forces  in 
America,  and  him  the  governor  of  Massachusetts,  who  pro- 
rogued the  legislature  at  his  will  and  hindered  legislation  as 
much  as  possible.  And  yet  Boston,  with  its  harbor  lined  with 
war  ships,  its  common  covered  with  soldiers,  its  business  para- 


THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  REPUBLIC.  25 

lyzed,  its  people  threatened  with  severest  punishment,  stood 
firmly  on  its  asserted  doctrines  that  parliament  was  wrong  and 
the  colonists  right  in  all  their  differences. 

Old  Faneuil  Hall,  the  cradle  of  liberty,  was  kept  warm  witk 
public  meetings  and  discussions  of  the  acts  of  parliament  and 
measures  of  defense  against  its  tyrannies.  The  first  thing  was  to 
a  11  peal  to  all  the  colonies  to  be  united  and  of  one  mind  about 
these  oppressions,  and  the  way  to  resist  them.  To  secure  this 
a  congress  was  needed  at  once.  After  brief  discussions  the  col- 
onies agreed  to  the  necessity  and  appointed  delegates:  Virginia 
and  South  Carolina  being  most  heartily  in  sympathy  with  Massa- 
chusetts. The  discussions  in  calling  this  congress,  and  in  it, 
developed  two  parties  very  distinctly,  the  lovers  of  monarchy 
and  the  lovers  of  republicanism — the  fearful  and  the  brave. 
Dickinson  and  Franklin,  of  Pennsylvania,  counseled  modera- 
tion, yet  were  in  sympathy  with  the  people.  Both  parties  were 
represented  in  the  congress,  but  the  overwhelming  majority 
were  with  suffering  Boston  and  against  parliament.  The  tyran- 
nical change  made  by  the  king  in  the  charter  of  Massachusetts 
had  aroused  the  people,  and  they  said  all  government  was  at  an 
end  because  the  change  was  unconstitutional;  and  they  forbade 
the  king's  judges  from  holding  court  in  all  the  counties.  The 
governor  had  seized  by  force  the  provincial  stock  of  powder  and 
established  a  fort  on  Boston  Neck,  which  had  so  exasperated  the 
people  that  his  government  was  at  an  end  everywhere  out  of 
Boston,  and  the  people  Avere  being  rapidly  aroused  to  a  general 
revolt.  Men  of  military  experience  were  being  fired  ;  farmers 
and  mechanics  were  getting  ready  for  desperate  service.  Con- 
gress was  hearing  almost  daily  of  what  Avas  transpiring  in  and 
around  Boston. 

In  this  state  of  fearful  ferment  the  men  of  that  congress  saAV 
clearly  that  the  king  and  his 'parliament  meant  subjugation  of 
the  colonies;  yet  with  great  moderation  and  profound  sagacity 
they  cemented  more  and  more  the  bonds  of  union,  fanned  the 
flame  of  liberty,  roused  the  courage  of  the  Aveak  and  laid  surely 
the  foundation  of  a  new  nation. 


26  OUK    PRESIDENTS. 


THE   BATTLES   OF   LEXINGTON   AND   CONCORD. 

On  the  nineteenth  of  April,  1775,  the  ever-memorable  first 
skirmish  between  the  British  soldiers  and  the  American  minute 
men  took  place  at  Lexington  and  Concord,  in  Avhich  the  Ameri- 
cans lost  forty-nine  killed,  five  missing  and  had  thirty-four 
wounded,  and  the  British  two  hundred  and  seventy-three  in 
killed,  wounded  and  missing.  The  British  went  to  destroy  stores 
and  frighten  the  people;  they  returned  a  rout  of  frightened  sol- 
diers, leaving  their  dead  and  wounded  along  the  way.  "  They  were 
driven  before  the  Americans  like  sheep/'  and  when  they  met  a 
large  body  of  troops  sent  out  to  rescue  them,  "  they  lay  on  the 
ground  for  rest,  their  tongues  hanging  out  of  their  mouths  like 
dogs  after  a  chase." 

BATTLE   OF  BUNKER   HILL. 

Two  months  later,  on  the  seventeenth  of  June,  1775,  the  battle 
of  Bunker  Hill  was  fought,  which  was  a  battle,  indeed,  in  which 
the  British  reported  a  loss  of  one  thousand  and  fifty.  Seventy 
commissioned  officers  were  wounded  and  thirteen  killed.  The 
loss  of  the  Americans  was  one  hundred  and  forty-five  killed  and 
missing  and  three  hundred  and  four  wounded.  The  powder  of 
the  Americans  gave  out  and  they  were  obliged  to  leave  their 
entrenchments  on  the  third  charge  of  the  British.  It  was  a  dear 
bought  victory,  teaching  them  the  wholesome  lesson  that  the 
Americans  would  fight. 

THE  TAKING   OF   FORT  TICONDEROGA. 

At  day-break,  on  the  morning  of  the  tenth  of  May,  1775, 
eighty-three  Vermont  men,  called  "Green  Mountain  Boys/' 
under  the  lead  of  Ethan  Allen,  surprised  and  took  Fort  Ticon- 
deroga,  on  Lake  Champlain.  On  the  same  day,  Crown  Poiot, 
a  few  miles  away,  surrendered  upon  summons  to  a  detachment 
of  Vermont  minute  men. 

On  the  tenth  of  May,  a  few  hours  after  the  capture  of  Ticon- 
deroga,  the  second  continental  congress  met  at  Philadelphia, 


THE   BEGINNING    OF   THE    REPUBLIC.  27 

It  had  such  members  as  Benjamin  Franklin,  Samuel  Adams, 
John  Adams,  George  Washington,  Richard  Henry  Lee,  Patrick 
Henry,  Peyton  Randolph,  Thomas  Jefferson,  John  Jay,  Robert 
E.  Livingston,  John  Dickinson,  John  Hancock,  and  many  more 
held  as  their  peers,  a  galaxy  of  brilliant  and  grand  men  such  as 
is  seldom  seen  in  this  world. 

On  the  fifteenth  of  June,  two  days  before  the  battle  of 
Bunker  Hill,  George  Washington  was  elected  commander-in- 
chief  of  the  continental  army.  Yet  all  this  time  the  colonists 
were  seeking  reconciliation  with  the  mother  country,  and  a  settle- 
ment of  all  their  difficulties  on  just  and  humane  grounds.  They 
were  sending  petition  after  petition  to  the  king,  asking  for  a 
redress  of  their  grievances,  and  expressing  in  strong  and  even 
tender  terms  their  loyalty  to  him,  and  their  love  of  their 
mother  country  and  her  people  and  laws,  only  to  be  spurned 
from  the  throne  and  have  their  petitions  responded  to  with 
increased  outrages  upon  their  property  and  rights.  Franklin 
was  for  a  long  time  kept  in  England  as  the  agent  of  the  colo- 
nies, to  present  their  appeals  and  give  parliament,  the  king  and 
people  of  England  the  true  state  of  their  case. 

While  this  effort  at  reconciliation  was  going  on  the  king  was 
sending  troops  to  Boston  to  punish  its  independent  spirit,  traf- 
ficking with  other  kings  for  foreign  troops,  enlisting  all  he  could 
at  home,  and  threatening  to  turn  the  slaves  and  Indians  upon 
the  defenseless  colonies. 

THE   EVACUATION   OF   BOSTON. 

Washington  took  his  place  at  the  head  of  the  army  a  few 
days  after  the  Battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  with  his  headquarters  at 
Cambridge,  Massachusetts.  With  a  mob  for  an  army,  though 
composed  of  noble  men,  poorly  armed  and  officered,  with  but 
little  ammunition,  little  money,  little  of  anything  that  makes 
an  efficient  army ;  annoyed,  tried,  hindered  everywhere,  he  so 
hedged  in  and  surrounded  and  pressed  and  frightened  the 
British  army  in  Boston  as  to  force  them  to  evacuate  the  place 
and  take  to  their  ships  for  safety.  This  was  in  March,  1776, 


28  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

nine  months  after  lie  had  been  appointed  commander-in-chief. 
It  was  done  without  a  battle,  simply  by  hedging  in,  cutting  off 
supplies,  taking  possession  of  and  fortifying  strategic  points  and 
giving  them  a  clear  idea  that  in  a  few  days  they  would  be  at  the 
mercy  of  the  rebels  they  had  so  abused  and  despised. 

Three  months  after,  the  twenty-eighth  of  June,  1776,  the 
battle  of  Fort  Moultrie  was  fought  in  Charleston  harbor,  which 
ended  in  disaster  to  the  British  ships  and  arms,  and  proved  that 
the  South  Carolinians  were  as  able  to  defend  their  native  soil 
as  the  men  of  Massachusetts. 

Each  colony  was  discussing  in  its  Congress  the  question  of 
independence,  and  every  discussion  carried  it  nearer  that  great 
event.  One  by  one  they  began  to  declare  for 'it.  The  first  of 
July  was  set  apart  by  the  Colonial  Congress  for  a  discussion  of 
this  subject.  The  situation  of  the  affairs  of  the  colonies  and 
their  relations  to  Great  Britain  were  thoroughly  discussed.  The 
great  spirits  argued  with  a  mighty  power  for  independence.  On 
the  second  of  July,  with  fifty  members  present,  the  great  vote 
was  taken  by  twelve  of  the  colonies,  New  York  being  yet  unde- 
cided, which  resolved:  "That  these  United  Colonies  are,  and  of 
right  ought  to  be,  free  and  independent  states." 

This  resolution  of  congress  made  a  new  country,  and  created 
the  necessity  for  presiding  magistrates.  No  greater  act  had  ever 
been  done  by  any  body  of  mortal  men.  It  was  as  they  believed 
to  effect  the  whole  world  and  revolutionize  its  governments.  It 
remained  for  Congress  to  set  forth  the  reasons  for  this  act,  then 
inaugurate  the  machinery  for  the  new  government  and  defend  it 
against  British  arms. 

A  committee  was  appointed  to  draft  a  declaration  of  their 
independence,  with  the  reasons  therefor,  and  as  Thomas  Jeffer- 
son, of  Virginia,  received  the  most  votes,  he  was  designated  to 
write  the  declaration.  From  the  fullness  of  his  own  mind,  with- 
out consulting  one  single  book,  Jefferson  drafted  this  immortal 
state  paper.  In  his  first  draft  he  made  a  severe  indictment 
against  King  George  for  having  forced  slavery  and  the  slave 
trade  upon  the  colonies,  and  for  having  vetoed  all  llu-ir  attempts 
to  prohibit  them.  This  indictment  was  "disapproved  by  some 


THE   BEGINNING    OF  THE   REPUBLIC.  29 

southern  gentlemen,  whose  reflections  were  not  yet  matured  to 
the  full  abhorrence  of  that  traffic,  and  the  offensive  expressions 
were  at  once  yielded."  Such  was  the  abhorrence  and  fear  of 
slavery  at  that  time  in  the  colonies,  that  had  not  this  been 
expunged  from  Jefferson's  first  draft,  it  is  altogether  probable 
that  slavery  would  not  have  survived  the  establishment  of  the 
new  government.  No  other  so  fatal  mistake  was  made  by  the 
grand  patriots  of  that  great  day.  Slavery  was  the  one  root  of 
evil  left  to  grow  on  American  soil,  a  great  tree  of  oppression  and 
wrong.  The  spirit  of  conciliation  was  so  great  in  those  noble 
men,  that  they  yielded  this  point  in  the  expectation  that  inde- 
pendence of  British  tyranny  would  put  an  end  to  slavery. 
Beyond  this  change  no  essential  modification  was  made,  save  an 
improvement  of  some  of  its  phraseology. 

THE   DECLARATION"   OF   INDEPENDENCE. 

"When  in  the  course  of  human  events  it  becomes  necessary 
for  one  people  to  dissolve  the  political  bonds  which  have  con- 
nected them  with  another,  and  to  assume,  among  the  powers  of 
the  earth,  the  separate  and  equal  station  to  which  the  laws  of 
nature  and  of  nature's  God  entitle  them,  a  decent  respect  for 
the  opinions  of  mankind  requires  that  they  should  declare  the 
causes  which  impel  them  to  the  separation. 

"  We  hold  these  truths  to  be  self-evident,  that  all  men  are 
created  equal;  that  they  are  endowed  by  their  Creator  with  cer- 
tain inalienable  rights;  that  among  these  are  life,  liberty  and 
tha  pursuit  of  happiness;  that  to  secure  these  rights  govern- 
ments are  instituted  among  men,  deriving  their  just  powers 
from  the  consent  of  the  governed;  that  whenever  any  form 
of  government  becomes  destructive  of  these  ends,  it  is  the  right 
of  the  people  to  alter  or  abolish  it,  and  to  institute  a  new  govern- 
ment, laying  its  foundations  on  such  principles,  and  organizing 
its  powers  in  such  form,  as  to  them  shall  seem  most  likely  to 
effect  their  safety  and  happiness.  Prudence,  indeed,  will  dic- 
tate that  governments  long  established,  should  not  be  changed 
for  light  and  transient  causes;  and,  accordingly,  all  experience 


30  OUR    PRESIDENTS. 

hath  shown,  that  mankind  are  more  disposed  to  suffer,  while 
evils  are  sufferable,  than  to  right  themselves  by  abolishing  the 
forms  to  which  they  are  accustomed.  But  when  a  long  train  of 
abuses  and  usurpations,  pursuing  invariably  the  same  object, 
evinces  a  design  to  reduce  them  under  absolute  despotism,  it  is 
their  right,  it  is  their  duty,  to  throw  off  the  government,  and  to 
provide  new  guards  for  their  future  security.  Such  has  been 
the  patient  sufferance  of  these  colonies,  and  such  is  now  the 
necessity  which  constrains  them  to  alter  their  form  of  govern- 
ment. The  history  of  the  present  king' of  Great  Britain  is  a 
history  of  repeated  injuries  and  usurpations,  all  having,  in  direct 
object,  the  establishment  of  an  absolute  tyranny  over  these 
states.  To  prove  this,  let  facts  be  submitted  to  a  candid  world: 

"He  has  refused  his  assent  to  laws  the  most  wholesome  and 
necessary  to  the  public  good. 

"He  has  forbidden  his  governors  to  pass  laws  of  immediate 
and  pressing  importance,  unless  suspended  in  their  operation 
till  his  assent  could  be  obtained;  and  when  so  suspended,  he  has 
utterly  neglected  to  attend  to  them. 

"He  has  refused  to  pass  other  laws  for  the  accommodation 
of  large  districts,  unless  those  people  would  relinquish  the  right 
of  representation  in  the  legislature;  a  right  inestimable  to  them, 
and  formidable  to  tyrants  only. 

"He  has  called  together  legislative  bodies  at  places  unusual, 
uncomfortable  and  distant  from  the  depository  of  public  records, 
for  the  sole  purpose  of  fatiguing  them  into  compliance  with  his 
measures. 

"He  has  dissolved  representative  houses  repeatedly,  for 
opposing,  with,  manly  firmness,  his  invasions  on  the  rights  of  the 
people. 

"He  has  refused  for  a  long  time  after  such  dissolutions,  to 
cause  others  to  be  elected;  whereby  the  legislative  powers, 
incapable  of  annihilation,  have  returned  to  the  people  at  large 
for  their  exercise;  the  state  remaining  in  the  meantime,  exposed 
to  all  the  danger  of  invasion  from  without  and  convulsions  from 
within. 

"  He  has  endeavored  to  prevent  the  population  of  these  states, 


THE   BEGINNING   OF  THE   REPUBLIC.  31 

for  that  purpose  obstructing  the  laws  for  naturalization  of  for- 
eigners; refusing  to  pass  others  to  encourage  their  migration 
hither,  and  raising  the  conditions  of  new  appropriations  of  lands. 

"He  has  obstructed  the  administration  of  justice  by  refusing 
his  assent  to  laws  for  establishing  judiciary  powers. 

"He  has  made  judges  dependent  on  his  will  alone,  for  the 
tenure  of  their  offices,  and  the  amount  and  payment  of  their 
salaries. 

"He  has  created  a  multitude  of  new  offices,  and  sent  hither 
swarms  of  officers  to  harass  our  people  and  eat  out  their 
substance. 

"He  has  kept  among  us,  in  times  of  peace,  standing  armies, 
without  the  consent  of  our  legislature. 

"He  has  affected  to  render  the  military  independent  of,  and 
superior  to,  the  civil  power. 

"He  has  combined  with  others  (that  is,  with  the  Lords  and 
Commons  of  Britain),  to  subject  us  to  a  jurisdiction  foreign  to 
our  constitution,  and  unacknowledged  by  our  laws;  giving  his 
assent  to  their  acts  of  pretended  legislation:  For  quartering  large 
bodies  of  armed  troops  among  us:  For  protecting  them  by  mock 
trial,  from  punishment  for  any  murders  which' they  should  com- 
mit on  the  inhabitants  of  these  states:  For  cutting  off  trade 
with  all  the  world:  For  imposing  taxes  on  us  without  our 
consent:  For  depriving  us,  in  many  cases,  of  the  benefits  of  trial 
by  jury:  For  transporting  us  beyond  seas  to  be  tried  for  pre- 
tended offenses:  For  abolishing  the  free  system  of  English  laws 
in  a  neighboring  province,  establishing  therein  an  arbitrary 
government,  and  enlarging  its  boundaries,  so  as  to  render  it  at 
once  an  example  and  fit  instrument  for  introducing  the  same 
absolute  rule  into  these  colonis:  For  taking  away  our  charters, 
abolishing  our  most  valuable  laws,  and  altering,  fundamentally, 
the  powers  of  our  governments:  For  suspending  our  own  legis- 
latures, and  declaring  themselves  invested  with  power  to  legis- 
late for  us  in  all  cases  whatsoever. 

"He  has  abdicated  government  here  by  declaring  us  out  of 
his  protection,  and  waging  war  against  us. 


35  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

"  He  lias  plundered  our  seas,  ravaged  our  coasts,  burnt  our 
towns,  and  destroyed  the  lives  of  our  people. 

"He  is  at  this  time  transporting  large  armies  of  foreign 
mercenaries  to  complete  the  work  of  death,  desolation  and 
tyranny  already  begun,  with  circumstances  of  cruelty  and  perfidy 
scarcely  paralleled  in  the  most  barbarous  ages,  and  totally 
unworthy  the  head  of  a  civilized  nation. 

"  He  has  constrained  our  fellow  citizens,  taken  captive  on 
high  seas,  to  bear  arms  against  their  country;  to  become  the 
executioners  of  their  friends  and  brethren,  or  to  fall  themselves 
by  their  hands. 

"  He  has  excited  domestic  insurrections  amongst  us,  and  has 
endeavored  to  bring  on  the  inhabitants  of  our  frontiers  the  mer- 
ciless Indian  savages,  whose  known  rule  of  warfare  is  an  undis- 
tinguishable  destruction  of  all  ages,  sexes  and  conditions. 

"  In  every"  stage  of  these  oppressions  we  have  petitioned  for 
redress  in  the  most  humble  terms;  our  petitions  have  been 
answered  only  by  repeated  injuries.  A  prince  whose  character 
is  thus  marked  by  every  act  which  may  define  a  tyrant  is  unfit 
to  be  a  ruler  of  a  free  people. 

"Nor  have  we  been  wanting  in  attention  to  our  British 
brethren.  We  have  warned  them  from  time  to  time  of  attempts 
made  by  their  legislature  to  extend  an  unwarrantable  jurisdic- 
tion over  us.  We  have  reminded  them  of  the  circumstances  of 
our  emigration  and  settlement  here.  We  have  appealed  to  their 
native  justice  and  magnanimity,  and  we  have  conjured  them  by 
the  ties  of  our  common  kindred  to  disavow  these  usurpations, 
which  would  inevitably  interrupt  our  connections  and  corre- 
spondence. They,  too,  have  been  deaf  to  the  voice  of  justice 
and  consanguinity.  We  must,  therefore,  acquiesce  in  the  neces- 
sity which  pronounces  our  separation,  and  hold  them,  as  we  hold 
the  rest  of  mankind,  enemies  in  war ;  in  peace,  friends. 

"We,  therefore,  the  representatives  of  the  United  States  of 
America,  in  general  congress  assembled,  appealing  to  the 
Supreme  Judge  of  the  world  for  the  rectitude  of  our  intentions,, 
do,  in  the  name  and  by  the  authority  of  the  good  people  of 
these  colonies,  solemnly  publish  and  declare  that  these  United 


THE   BEGINNING   OF  THE    REPUBLIC  3£ 

Colonies  are,  and  of  right  ought  to  be,  FREE  AND  INDEPENDENT 
STATES;  that  they  are  absolved  from  all  allegiance  to  the  British 
crown,  and  that  all  political  connection  between  them  and  the 
state  of  Great  Britain  is,  and  ought  to  be,  totally  dissolved, 
;uid  that  as  free  and  independent  states  they  have  full  power  to 
levy  war,  conclude  peace,  contract  alliances,  establish  commerce, 
and  to  do  all  other  acts  and  things  which  independent  states 
may  of  right  do.  And,  for  the  support  of  this  declaration, 
with  a  firm  reliance  on  the  protection  of  DIVINE  PROVIDENCE. 
we  mutually  pledge  to  each  other  our  lives,  our  fortunes  and  our 
sacred  honor."  * 

This  immortal  state  paper,  which  created  a  nation  and  startled 
the  old  nations  with  a  proclamation  of  the  enduring  freedom  and 
rights  of  all  humanity,  was  an  exact  transcript  of  the  mind  and 
heart  of  the  people  of  the  colonies.  Jefferson  wrote  it  out  of  his 
heart,  and  it  has  immortalized  his  name;  but  he  only  wrote  for 
the  people,  and  it  has  given  enduring  fame  to  them  and  the  work 
they  did  for  themselves  and  humanity.  There  are  no  richer 
chapters  in  human  history  than  those  that  record  the  inception 
and  establishment  of  the  United  States  government.  Every 
youth  in  America,  aye,  in  the  whole  world,  should  study  them 
till  he  learns  by  heart  the  grand  worth  of  the  noble  men  and 
great  deeds  of  those  "times  that  tried  men's  souls."  John 
Adams  said,  on  the  day  the  declaration  was  passed:  "The 
greatest  question  is  decided  which  ever  was  debated  in  Amer- 
ica, and  a  greater  perhaps  never  was,  nor  will  be,  decided 
among  men.  When  I  look  back  to  1761,  and  run  through 
the  series  of  political  events,  the  chain  of  causes  and  effects, 
I  am  surprised  at  the  suddenness  as  well  as  greatness  of  this 
revolution.  Britain  has  been  filled  with  folly,  and  America 
with  wisdom.  It  is  the  will  of  Heaven  that  the  two  countries 
should  be  sundered  forever,  and  it  may  be  the  will  of  Heaven 
that  America  shall  suffer  calamities  still  more  wasting,  and  dis- 
tresses yet  more  dreadful.  If  this  is  to  be  the  case,  the  furnace 
of  affliction  produces  refinement  in  states  as  well  as  individuals; 
but  I  submit  all  my  hopes  and  fears  to  an  overruling  Providence, 
in  which,  unfashionable  as  the  faith  may  be,  I  firmly  believe." 
3 


34  OUK   PRESIDENT. 

It  was  the  folly,  selfishness  and  tyranny  of  Britain  that  sepa- 
rated the  colonies  from  her.  The  colonies  outgrew  the  mother 
country  in  mind  and  heart,  in  ideas  and  men,  in  conscience  and 
character.  A  few  in  England  kept  abreast  of  American  growth, 
but  they  were  too  few  to  repress  the  rising  tide  of  venality  and 
dominance  of  power.  American  youth  should  study  those 
times.  From  1761  to  1783  a  series  of  events  transpired  more 
important  to  humanity  than  any  ever  seen  in  the  same  time,  save 
at  the  establishment  of  Christianity, — a  series  which  need  to  be 
studied  by  our  modern  men  to  rekindle  their  patriotism,  to 
quicken  their  respect  for  true  men  and  righteous  principlies, 
and  to  revive  in  them  the  moral  elements  of  personal  and 
national  freedom.  Mr.  Bancroft,  in  his  history  of  the  United 
States,  has  set  these  things  in  order  with  consummate  fidelity 
and  skill,  worthy  of  the  careful  study  of  the  best  men.  His 
great  work  should  be  in  every  American  home,  and  be  made  to 
contribute  to  the  education  and  growth  of  all  American  men. 

In  the  stirring  and  prolific  time  from  1761  to  1783  the  first 
presidents  of  this  republic  were  made.  Their  characters  cannot 
be  understood  except  by  a  study  of  the  times,  men,  events  and 
principles  that  made  them.  They  were  exceptionally  grand 
men,  because  they  lived  in  times  exceptionally  charged  with 
great  principles,  occasions  and  events.  Our  men  of  to-day  per- 
haps need  nothing  more  than  a  baptism  in  the  spirit  and  power 
of  the  American  revolution.  It  is  the  purpose  of  this  review  of 
the  lives  of  our  presidents  to  relight  the  old  fires  in  the  souls  of 
our  modern  men,  and  invigorate  our  modern  character  with  the 
mighty,  manly  and  moral  forces  which  gave  the  world  such  men 
as  George  Washington  and  his  compeers. 


CHAPTER   II. 


GEOKGE 

FIRST  PKESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

ANCESTRY. 

ENEALOGISTS  have  found  no  difficulty  in  tracing 
the  line  of  the  Washington  ancestry  back  through  six 
centuries  of  English  history.  It  was  a  vigorous  stock, 
and  held  its  distinct  place  and  power  in  the  world  by 
marked  qualities  of  mind  and  body,  which  persisted  in 
living  and  having  and  being  known.  Marrying  into  dif- 
ferent families,  serving  different  kings  and  governments,  chang- 
ing localities  and  countries,  did  not  weaken  the  family  qualities 
nor  abate  its  force  of  character.  It  rather  gained  strength  and 
improved  in  quality  till  it  flowered  in  the  transcendent  opulence 
and  excellence  of  our  Washington,  who  made  his  name  and  time 
and  country  immortal. 

The  family  was  doubtless  of  Norman  origin  and  served  under 
William  the  Conquerer.  Among  the  knights  of  the  county  of 
Durham,  England,  who  held  great  landed  estates  and  manorial 
privileges,  in  the  twelfth  century,  was  WILLIAM  DE  HERTBURN. 
It  was  the  custom  at  that  time  for  the  owners  of  large  estates, 
with  castles  and  villages  on  them,  to  take  the  name  of  the  estate. 
The  records  of  the  time  show  that  William  De  Hertburn 
exchanged  his  village  of  Hertburn  for  the  manor  and  village  of 
Wessyngton,  receiving  the  diocese  with  it.  After  that  the  De 
Hertburn  family  took  the  name  of  its  new  estates,  and  appears 

89 


36  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

on  the  records  as  De  Wessyngton.  The  De  Wessyngtons  appear 
at  different  times  and  always  in  important  positions,  till  1264 
the  name  of  William  Weshington  is  recorded  on  the  roll  of  loyal 
knights  who  fought  for  their  sovereign  in  the  battle  of  Lewes, 
when  the  king  was  taken  prisoner.  Here  the  De  is  left  off  and 
the  name  takes  a  new  form. 

In  1416  John  De  Wessyngton  was  elected  prior  of  the  Benedic- 
tine convent,  with  a  cathedral  attached.  This  was  an  ancient  and 
honorable  position,  taking  rank  with  a  bishopric.  There  had 
been  many  disputes  about  the  claims  and  privileges  of  this  con- 
vent. John  De  AVessyngton  took  up  the  dispute  in  a  tract, 
which  thoroughly  set  forth  the  rights  of  the  convent  and  settled 
the  long  controversy  in  its  favor.  It  won  him  much  renown  in 
his  time. 

The  De  Wessyngtons  separated  and  went  into  different  coun- 
tries, engaged  in  different  pursuits,  some  in  the  learned  profes- 
sions, some  as  great  land  owners,  some  were  knighted  for 
valorous  services,  some  associated  with  religious  houses.  Grad- 
ually the  De  was  dropped  from  the  family  name,  and  in  the 
later  records  it  appears  as  it  is  now  spelled,  WASHINGTON. 

The  branch  of  the  family  from  which  our  Washington 
descended,  sprang  from  Laurence  Washington,  Esq.,  of  Gray's 
Inn,  son  of  John  Washington,  of  Lancashire. 

This  Laurence  Washington  was  for  a  time  mayor  of  North- 
ampton, and  received  in  1538  a  grant  of  the  manor  of  Sulgrave 
with  other  lands  adjoining.  Sulgrave  remained  the  landed 
estate  of  the  family  till  1620,  and  was  called  "The  Washington 
Manor."  Several  of  the  descendents  of  this  family  distinguished 
themselves  in  wars  and  public  services.  This  branch  of  the 
family  was  always  true  to  the  king,  and  under  the  protectorate 
when  the  king  was  in  exile,  many  of  his  faithful  subjects  sought 
homes  in  other  lands,  some  of  them  in  the  new  colony  of  Vir- 
ginia, which,  from  its  fidelity  to  the  exiled  monarch  and  the 
Anglican  church,  had  become  a  welcome  refuge  to  the  cavaliers. 
Among  those  who  came  here  were  John  and  Andrew  Washing- 
ion,  grandsons  of  the  grantee  of  the  Sulgrave  estate. 

The  brothers  reached  Virginia  in  1657  and  made  extensive 


GEOEGE   WASHINGTON.  37 

land  purchases  in  Westmoreland  county,  between  the  Potomac 
and  Rappahannock  rivers.  John  made  his  home  on  Bridge's 
creek  and  married  Miss  Anne  Pope  of  the  same  county,  thus  at 
once  identifying  himself  with  the  interests  and  life  of  the  colony. 
He  entered  largely  into  the  agricultural  pursuits  of  the  county; 
became  a  magistrate;  a  member  of  the  house  of  burgesses ;  a 
colonel  in  the  military  forces  that  operated  against  the  Seneca 
Indians,  and  a  tower  of  strength  in  the  community  of  Avhich  he 
was  an  honored  member.  The  parish  in  which  he  resided  was 
named  for  him.  He  is  buried  in  the  family  burial  place  on 
Bridge's  creek. 

His  extensive  landed  estate  and  accumulations  remained  in 
the  family.  Augustine  Washington,  John's  grandson,  was  the 
father  of  George  Washington.  Augustine  was  born  in  1694,  forty- 
seven  years  after  his  grandfather  reached  America.  He  was  mar- 
ried April  20,  1715,  to  Jane  Butler,  daughter  of  Caleb  Butler,  of 
the  same  county.  He  had  four  children  by  her,  but  only  Lawrence 
and  Augustine  survived  the  years  of  childhood;  their  mother 
died  November  24,  1728.  March  6,  1730,  he  married  Mary  Ball, 
a  young  and  interesting  girl,  regarded  as  the  belle  of  the  neigh- 
borhood. Six  children  came  of  this  marriage:  George,  Samuel, 
John  Augustine,  Charles,  Elizabeth  and  Mildred.  Mildred  died 
in  infancy. 

GEORGE,  the  eldest,  the  great  general,  president,  man, 
whom  we  can  scarcely  think  of  as  a  child,  was  born  February  22, 
1732,  in  the  old  home  on  Bridge's  creek.  This  old  family  home 
of  the  Washingtons  occupied  a  sightly  position,  overlooking  a 
great  reach  of  the  Potomac  river  and  valley.  The  house  had  four 
rooms  on  the  ground  floor,  a  high  pointed  roof  with  rooms  in  it, 
and  immense  chimneys  at  each  end.  The  house  is  entirely 
gone.  There  is  nothing  there  to  mark  it  as  once  a  home,  but 
the  inscription  on  a  stone  which  tells  the  traveler  that  this  is 
the  birth-place  of  George  Washington.  The  record  of  the 
Washington  ancestry  is  a  noble  one,  showing  that  the  family 
through  every  variety  of  experience  and  trial  had  kept  a  high 
respectability,  and  met  all  the  demands  of  noble  life  with  ability, 
fortitude  and  success.  There  seems  always  to  have  been  in  the 


38  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

family  a  strong  tendency  to  the  independence  of  agricultural 
pursuits.  They  were  lords  of  land.  They  wer"e  patriarchal 
men,  and  had  large  families,  flocks  and  possessions.  They  seem 
through  the  whole  six  centuries  of  their  known  history,  to  have 
been  loyal  to  their  king,  patriotic  and  devout.  They  were  a 
large-minded,  conservative,  generous,  devout  race  of  men, 
abreast  of  their  times,  provident,  broad-seeing,  magnets  around 
which  property  and  men  naturally  gathered,  centers  of  power 
which  their  communities  always  felt  with  confidence  and  respect. 

BOYHOOD    OF   AVASHINGTOX. 

The  trite  saying  that  "the  boy  is  father  of  the  man,"  is 
seldom  found  truer  than  in  the  case  of  Washington.  Our  Virginia 
boy  that  we  have  found  has  twenty  generations  of  good  English 
blood  running  in  his  veins,  and  the  strong  minds  and  hearts  of 
a  long  line  of  noble  ancestors  behind  him,  is  favored  with  some 
excellent  surroundings  that  are  likely  to  do  more  and  better  for 
him  than  they  would  for  many  boys  less  thoughtful  and  sensi- 
tive to  such  surroundings.  He  had  no  village  near  him  where 
the  boys  congregate  often  to  amuse  each  other,  dissipate  time, 
originate  nonsense,  concoct  mischief  and  create  demoralizing 
tastes.  He  had  no  resort  of  evil  associates,  to  counteract  the 
good  influences  of  his  home  and  his  neighbors.  He  had  the 
open  country  which  he  early  appreciated,  the  business  of  his 
father's  plantation,  his  good  home,  his  two  older  half  brothers, 
who  were  high  minded,  and  the  strong  interest  of  the  family  in 
the  English  church,  which  in  Virginia  was  the  prevailing 
church. 

The  tradition  of  the  neighborhood  represents  his  father, 
Augustine,  as  seeking  in  ways  peculiar  to  himself  to  impress 
upon  George  the  lessons  of  virtue  and  religion.  The  strong 
mother,  who  was  always  a  woman  of  high  force  of  character,  did 
her  full  part  in  giving  shape  and  force  to  the  character  of  her 
first  born. 

Lawrence  was  fifteen  years  older  than  George,  and  was  sent 
to  England  to  be  educated.  He  returned,  an  educated  and 
accomplished  young  man,  when  George  was  seven  or  eight  years 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON.  39 

old.  He  took  a  great  interest  in  George  and  the  two  became 
fast  and  life-long  friends.  The  stories  of  his  school  life,  his 
teachers  and  friends  in  England,  of  English  customs,  manners, 
society,  politics  and  men,  which  Lawrence  told  with  youth- 
ful enthusiasm,  to  amuse  and  instruct  George,  were  of  immense 
importance  to  him.  The  educated  thought,  language  and  man- 
ners of  Lawrence  had  their  influence.  Lawrence  became  the 
model  man  for  George  to  imitate  and  grow  up  to.  Few  things, 
probably,  in  his  boyhood  did  more  to  elevate  and  give  character 
and  cast  to  George's  mind  than  this  constant  association  .with 
his  educated  and  high-minded  brother. 

Soon  after  George  was  born,  the  family  moved  to  an  estate 
in  Stafford  county,  opposite  Fredericksburg.  The  house  to 
which  they  went  was  similar  to  the  one  they  left,  and  stood  on 
rising  ground  overlooking  the  Eappahannock.  There  was  a 
meadow  in  front  of  the  house  which  was  often  George's  play- 
ground. He  was  a  robust  boy,  large  of  his  age,  tall,  athletic, 
vigorous  and  fond  of  all  athletic  sports.  He  grew  up  among 
the  fine  horses  of  the  plantation,  their  friend  and  rider.  By 
the  time  he  was  twelve  years  old  he  felt  himself  equal  to  the 
management  of  any  stalwart  and  spirited  colt.  In  jumping, 
running,  climbing,  pitching  quoits,  throwing  stones,  lifting, 
wrestling,  and  all  the  active  games  of  the  youth  of  his  neighbor- 
hood, he  was  equal  to  the  best.  He  was  so  full  of  muscular 
activity  that  he  delighted  in  these  sports.  It  is  said  that  his 
fondness  for  them  continued  far  into  his  manly  years.  These 
things  show  that  he  was  a  wide-awake  boy  and  must  have  been 
a  great  favorite  among  the  boys  of  his  neighborhood. 

Lawrence  had  inherited  much  of  the  military  spirit  of  his 
ancestors.  His  education  in  England  had  quickened  it.  His 
two  voyages  across  the  Atlantic  had  taught  him  to  love  the  sea. 
Two  or  three  years  after  his  return  from  England,  a  difficulty 
with  the  Spaniards  in  the  West  Indies  broke  out.  France  lent 
aid  to  Spain.  A  regiment  of  four  battalions  was  raised  in  the 
colonies  and  sent  to  Jamaica. '  There  was  a  quick  outburst  of 
military  ardor  in  Virginia.  Lawrence  Washington,  now  twenty- 
two,  caught  the  spirit  and  enlisted.  He  obtained  a  captain's 


40  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

commission  in  the  regiment  and  embarked  with  it  for  the  West 
Indies.  He  served  under  General  AVcnt  worth  and  Admiral 
Vernon,  and  acquired  the  friendship  of  both.  He  served  with 
zeal  through  that  campaign,  and  returned  to  rehearse  its  vivid 
experiences  in  the  ears  of  George. 

George,  too,  had  inherited  the  military  spirit  of  his  ances- 
tors, and  that  spirit  was  easily  aroused  in  him.  The  recitals  of 
Indian  wars,  the  stories  of  ancestral  military  exploits,  Law- 
rence's observations  in  England,  and  now  his  actual  experience 
in  an  army  on  sea  and  land,  fired  the  military  spirit  in  the  boy's 
heart,  and  he  became  the  military  leader  of  the  boys  at  school. 
He  organized  them,  drilled  them,  fought  mimic  battles  with 
them,  and  thus  in  his  own  and  their  hearts  began  that  training 
which  served  them  so  well  in  after  years. 

Lawrence  came  back  from  the  West  Indies  intending  to  seek 
promotion  in  the  army  and  devote  himself  to  military  pursuits. 
But  becoming  acquainted  with  Miss  Anne  Fairfax  and  falling  in 
love  with  her  he  changed  his  plan,  married  her  and  settled 
down  on  his  estate  which,  in  honor  of  his  admiral,  he  named 
Mount  Yernon. 

Augustine,  the  father,  died  April  12,  1743,  after  a  brief 
illness,  aged  forty-nine.  He  left  large  possessions,  which  he 
divided  by  will;  giving  Lawrence  the  estate  on  the  Potomac, which 
he  named  for  his  admiral,  and  several  shares  in  iron  works;  to 
Augustine  the  estate  on  Bridge's  creek;  to  George  the  estate  on 
the  Rappahannock,  when  he  should  become  of  age;  and  to  the 
rest  their  share  of  his  property;  but  put  all  the  property  of  the 
children  under  age  into  the  mother's  hands  to  manage  till  they 
should  reach  their  majority.  Augustine  soon  married  an  heiress 
of  the  same  county  of  his  estate"  Miss  Anne  Aylett. 

George  was  left  fatherless  at  eleven  years  of  age ;  so  the 
responsibilities  of  the  household  and  estate  rested  upon  him  and 
his  mother.  Thus  at  twelve  he  took  up  a  man's  cares  and 
responsibilities  in  connection  with  his  mother.  Great  school 
was  this  for  such  a  boy. 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON.  41 


HIS   EDUCATION. 

Such  a  boy  as  George  Washington  is  sure  of  an  education, 
whether  the  schools  provide  for  it  or  not.  His  own  strong  judg- 
ment will  lead  him  to  educate  himself.  Life  around  him  will 
give  him  lessons.  He  will  force  circumstances  to  become  his 
teachers.  He  will  demand  knowledge  of  the  men  and  things 
about  him,  and  they  will  grant  the  demand.  His  ancestry  and 
his  life  make  it  certain  that  he  was  born  to  greatness.  He  was 
the  child  of  a  favoring  Providence.  The  conditions  of  eminent 
usefulness  were  all  fulfilled  in  the  circumstances  of  his  birth 
and  life.  While  humanly  speaking  he  was  a  self-made  man, 
truly  speaking  he  was  divinely  made.  The  history  into  which 
he  is  set  as  the  most  lustrous  gem,  bears  to  the  man  of  faith 
undoubting  marks  of  a  divine  procedure,  of  a  purpose  to  lift 
the  world  to  a  higher  life  through  America,  and  Washington 
appears  as  the  chosen  and  prepared  man  to  lead  in  the  sublime 
enterprise.  To  one  who  has  studied  the  Avhole  matter  pro- 
foundly, this  seems  clear.  And  this  thought  is  the  fitting  one 
to  preface  a  consideration  of  his  education. 

In  those  days  the  children  of  the  Virginia  planters  were  edu- 
cated as  they  could  be.  The  estates  were  large,  and  neighbors 
far  apart.  The  schools  were  not  plenty,  nor  of  a  high  order. 
One  Mr.  Hobby,  a  tenant  of  George's  father  and  sexton  of  the 
church  which  the  family  attended,  kept  a  school  in  a  humble 
building  called  "The  old  Field  school-house;"  here  George  got 
the  rudiments  of  reading,  writing  and  ciphering.  Nothing  but 
the  beginnings  of  an  education  was  attempted.  But  the  helps 
which  the  boy  got  at  school  were  so  meagre  that  his  parents 
joined  their  help  with  the  teachers  as  much  as  they  could. 
After  his  father's  death  he  was  sent  to  his  brother  Augustine, 
at  Bridge's  creek,  where  a  more  advanced  and  systematic  school 
was  taught  by  a  Mr.  Williams.  His  education  here,  where  he 
remained  the  most  of  the  time  for  four  years,  was  of  the  plain 
and  solid  kind.  His  object  seems  to  have  been  to  fit  himself 
for  the  practical  business  of  a  Virginia  planter.  He  was  fond 
of  mathematics,  and  became  quite  proficient,  not  only  in  arith- 


42  OUK    PRESIDENTS. 

metic,  but  in  geometry  and  surveying.  He  practiced  the  art  of 
surveying  in  the  fields  about  the  school,  and  made  extensive  and 
accurate  drawings  of  them  which  are  preserved.  It  is  not 
known  that  he  studied  grammar  or  rhetoric,  or  any  lingual  or 
philosophical  studies.  His  early  attempts  at  composition,  pre- 
served at  Mount  Vernon,  by  their  grammatical  mistakes  and 
inaccuracies  indicate  that  all  philological  studies  were  neglected. 
He  aimed  at  the  practical.  He  has  left  a  volume  into  which  he 
had  copied  forms  for  most  all  kinds  of  business  transactions, 
such  as  notes,  bills  of  sale  and  exchange,  bonds,  deeds,  wills, 
legal  transactions  of  all  kinds  common  in  the  colony.  He  had 
dealings  with  domestics,  tenants,  magistrates  and  every  matter 
of  business  likely  to  occur  in  his  life,  set  in  form,  and  neatly 
and  accurately  written  out.  His  manuscript  school-books  are 
preserved — models  of  painstaking  neatness  and  precision.  His 
field-books  of  surveying  show  proficiency  in  drafting,  and  that 
he  studied  order  and  accuracy  as  he  would  study  a  science. 
Even  in  these  early  days  Mr.  Irving,  his  most  elaborate  and 
accomplished  biographer  says:  "He  had  acquired  the  magic  of 
method,  which  of  itself  works  wonders." 

When  about  fourteen,  a  plan  was  concocted  by  Lawrence  and 
Mr.  Fairfax  to  get  him  a  place  in  the  navy.  A  midshipman's 
warrant  was  obtained,  his  mother's  consent  gained  and  his  lug- 
gage taken  aboard  the  vessel  he  was  to  go  on  ;  when  his  mother 
relented  and  he  was  retained  at  school  a  while  longer. 

It  is  recorded  of  his  mother  that  at  stated  times  she  was 
accustomed  to  gather  her  family  about  her  and  read  to  them 
from  her  favorite  book,  "  Sir  Matthew  Hale's  Contemplations, 
Moral  and  Divine."  And  we  may  well  suppose  that  her  read- 
ings were  selected  with  reference  to  the  moral  lessons  they 
imparted,  and  were  emphasized  with  a  mother's  wisdom  and 
affection.  The  effect  of  this  maternal  instruction  on  such  a 
thoughtful  youth  as  George,  must  have  been  great.  His  biog- 
raphers have  taken  great  pains  to  trace  his  ancestry  and  to 
recount  the  surrounding  influences  that  helped  educate  and 
make  George  Washington,  and  have  spoken  respectfully  of  his 
mother's  part;  yet  it  seems  clear  to  the  author  of  this  sketch, 


GEOEGE  WASHINGTON.  43 

that  the  mother's  part  in  his  education  was  the  major  part.  She 
was  a  beautiful  and  good  woman;  he  was  her  oldest  child;  she 
was  yet  young  when  left  alone  to  care  for  the  family  and  great 
estates.  Many  must  have  been  the  consultations  which  she 
and  her  son  had  over  their  affairs.  The  management  of  their 
property,  domestics  and  their  families ;  the  care  and  education 
of  the  children,  their  discipline,  health,  manners  and  morals,  all 
came  often  before  the  young  mother  and  her  thoughtful  and 
considerate  son.  This  education  with  and  by  his  mother  was 
more  to  him  in  making  him  the  wise,  great  and  good  man  he 
was,  than  all  he  got  from  schools  and  books. 

This  is  one  of  those  marked  instances  of  what  a  good  mother 
can  do  for  her  children  when  left  to  her  sole  care.  Every 
country  and  age  abounds  with  such  cases. 

HIS  YOUTH. 

Lawrence  Washington,  living  on  his  estate,  which  he  called 
Mount  Vernon,  in  close  proximity  to  his  father-in-law,  William 
Fairfax,  invited  George  to  his  home  on  leaving  his  school. 
George  had  now  become  a  youth.  Though  only  sixteen,  he  was 
tall,  sedate,  courteous  in  manners,  more  a  man  than  a  boy. 

William  Fairfax  was  a  brother  of  Lord  Fairfax,  and  had 
come  to  Virginia  to  look  after  the  immense  estates  of  his 
brother.  Lord  Fairfax  had  received  grants  of  the  land  between 
the  Kappahannock  and  Potomac  rivers,  and  tiring  of  society  at 
home  on  account  of  social  disappointment,  he  came  to  Virginia 
and  established  his  brother  on  his  estate.  Their  elegant  English 
home,  near  Mount  Vernon,  now  became  the  frequent  resort  of 
George  Washington.  His  frankness  and  modesty,  and  thought- 
*ul,  manly  bearing  won  the  cordial  regard  of  all  the  family. 
The  eldest  son  had  just  married  and  brought  his  wife  and  her 
sister  home,  adding  much  to  the  interest  and  sociality  of  the 
family.  This  educated  circle  of  fine-bred  people,  old  and  young, 
and  all  older  than  he,  did  much  to  refine  his  manners  and  give 
him  the  appearance  of  being  older  than  he  was. 

Lord  Fairfax  was  a  great  rider  and  fox  hunter,  and  kept 
horses  and  hounds  for  this  old  English  sport.  He  found  his 


44  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

match  in  young  Washington,  and  in  their  frequent  rides  on  the 
chase  learned  the  young  man's  worth  and  attainments ;  and 
engaged  him  to  survey  his  grant  of  lands.  This  exactly  suited 
young  Washington,  as  he  had  educated  himself  for  it,  loved 
the  wild  woods  of  the  mountain  and  valley,  and  had  in  his 
heart  an  unspoken  reason  for  craving  just  such  an  adventurous 
excursion  away  from  society  into  the  wilds  of  the  forest. 

HIS  HEART  SORROW. 

We  have  not  been  accustomed  to  think  of  George  Washing- 
ton as  a  lovesick  swain,  or  ever  having  had  those  sorrowful 
experiences  of  the  heart  which  unrequited  love  produces  and 
which  always  bring  bitter  disappointment  and  often  disasters. 
But  it  seems  clear  that  when  he  went  from  school  to  Mount 
Vernon,  he  carried  a  poor  aching  heart  smitten  with  an  affection 
not  reciprocated,  or  which,  for  some  reason,  he  did  not  announce 
to  its  object.  Who  the  young  miss  was  who  so  filled  his  great 
heart  with  tenderness  and  pain  is  not  known.  He  speaks  of  her 
in  a  letter  to  his  "Dear  Friend  Robin,"  as  "your  Lowland 
Beauty."  To  different  friends  he  wrote  of  liis  love  sorrows.  In 
his  journal  he  wrote  of  it,  and  like  other  love-afflicted  mortals, 
attempted  to  soothe  his  sorrows  with  poetic  effusions.  In  these 
he  speaks  of  his  "poor,  restless  heart,  wounded  by  cupid's  dart, 
bleeding  for  one  who  remains  pitiless  of  his  griefs  and  woes." 
Some  of  his  verses  indicate  that  he  never  spoke  his  love  to  the 
ears  that  should  have  heard  it,  prevented,  it  may  have  been,  by 
bashfulness: 

"Ah,  woe  is  me,  that  I  should  love  and  conceal; 
Long  have  I  wished  and  never  dare  reveal." 

This  experience,  perhaps,  should  be  set  down  as  a  part  of  his 
youthful  education.  It  was  not  a  loss.  It  softened  his  nature 
and  manners.  It  revealed  to  himself  the  depth  of  his  heart 
capacity.  It  awakened  in  him  that  deep  respect  for  woman 
which  he  always  felt,  and  might  have  been  the  secret  of  hi? 
studied  courtesy  of  manner  and  gentleness  of  spirit  toward  all 
women.  It  is  more  than  likely  it  was  the  experience  of  tho 


GEOKGE   WASHINGTON.  45 

tender  passion  that  led  him  to  write  in  his  journal,  "  Eules  for 
behavior  in  company  and  conversation."  One  of  his  lady  friends 
in  his  youth,  late  in  her  life  said  of  him:  "  He  was  a  very  bashful 
young  man;  I  often  wished  that  he  would  talk  more."  He  also 
compiled  in  his  journal  a  code  of  "  morals  and  manners,"  that 
he  might  be  guided  by  them  in  his  conduct  and  intercourse  in 
society.  Ho  was  self-directing  and  self-educating,  and  so 
methodical  that  he  set  down  in  his  journal  his  plans  for  self- 
improvement.  His  bashfulness,  doubtless,  made  him  feel  that 
he  must  have  rules  of  conduct,  and  enforce  them  upon  himself. 
At  this  time  he  had  had  much  experience  of  life;  he  had  lost 
his  father;  had  aided  his  mother  in  their  extensive  domestic  and 
business  affairs;  had  studied  most  of  the  time  for  four  years; 
had  listened  much  to  his  mother's  reading  and  instruction;  had 
associated  intimately  with  his  educated  brother  Lawrence,  who 
was  both  father  and  brother  to  him  and  deeply  loved  him;  had 
had  his  heart  smitten  Avitli  a  great  love;  had  had  much  inter- 
course with  the  eccentric,  but  strong  Lord  Fairfax,  and  with 
William  Fairfax  and  his  intelligent  and  refined  family  and 
visitors;  had  put  in  his  journal  his  reflections  and  plans  for  self- 
improvement,  and  yet  was  but  just  entering  his  seventeenth 
year.  It  is  clear,  that,  though  not  educated  in  any  college  oi 
letters  and  science,  he  was  ediicated  and  profoundly  educated, 
for  one  of  his  age,  in  the  school  of  life.  A  grand  and  broad 
foundation  had  been  laid  for  the  great  manhood  that  was  after- 
ward built  thereon. 

HIS   SURVEYING    EXPEDITION. 

In  the  month  of  March,  1748,  Washington,  with  George 
William  Fairfax,  son  of  William,  with  whom  he  had  spent  a 
happy  winter,  started  on  a  surveying  expedition  to  locate  the 
boundaries  of  Lord  Fairfax's  grant  of  Virginia  land.  It  was  a 
rough,  hard  experience  with  rivers,  forests,  mountains,  rain, 
Indians,  squatters  and  mud;  but  it  was  satisfactorily  completed 
by  the  twelfth  of  April.  It  gave  Washington  a  clear  knowledge 
of  the  Shenandoah  valley  and  the  mountains,  rivers  and  land? 
about  it,  which  was  of  great  value  to  him  in  after  years.  Lord 


46  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

Fairfax  procured  his  appointment  as  public  surveyor,  and  he 
spent  the  next  two  or  three  years  mostly  in  the  survey  of  Vir- 
ginia lands.  Lord  Fairfax  took  up  his  residence  on  the  Shenan- 
doah,  where  Washington  often  tarried  with  him  for  a  time  on 
his  surveying  expeditions,  and  was  largely  profited  by  his  great 
knowledge  and  extended  acquaintance  with  the  world. 

COMING   COMPLICATIONS. 

The  growing  colonies  were  exciting  ambitious  schemes  in  the 
minds  of  peoples  and  kings.  The  great  west  was  full  of  alluring 
prospects.  Empires  of  land  stretched  away  toward  the  setting 
sun.  Something  was  known  of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  rivers 
and  the  immense  territories  they  drained.  Subjects  of  the 
French  king  had  seen  them  and  taken  possession  of  them  and 
all  their  tributaries  and  lands  on  them,  in  the  name  of  their 
king.  The  English  claimed  that  through  the  "Six  Nations" 
they  had  acquired  a  right  to  all  this  territory.  The  people  of 
both  nations  were  full  of  colonization  schemes.  Virginia  and 
Pennsylvania  were  interested  and  excited.  It  was  not  far 
to  the  head  waters  of  the  Ohio's  tributaries.  Their  Indian 
traders  were  already  trafficking  with  the  Ohio  tribes.  Settlers 
were  making  their  way  through  the  passes  of  the  mountains 
and  great  interest  was  felt  to  push  the  settlements  forward. 

Among  the  many  enterprising  men  who  were  interested  in 
these  schemes  of  wealth  and  dominion  was  Lawrence  Washing- 
ton. He  desired  that  Virginia  should  join  with  Pennsylvania 
and  make  large  settlements  on  the  Ohio  under  the  liberal 
religious  policy  of  Pennsylvania.  He  said:  "It  has  ever  been 
my  opinion,  and  I  hope  it  ever  will  be,  that  restraints  on  con- 
science are  cruel  in  regard  to  those  on  whom  they  are  imposed, 
and  injurious  to  the  country  imposing  them."  Then  he  refers 
to  the  liberty  of  conscience  enjoyed  in  Pennsylvania,  and  the 
restraint  put  upon  conscience  in  Virginia  by  its  one  English 
church,  and  points  to  the  much  more  rapid  growth  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. He  would  have  this  liberal  policy  applied  to  the  western 
settlements.  His  enlightened  views  on  this  subject  Avere  no 
doubt  imparted  to  his  younger  brother  and  helped  form  his 


GEO&GE  WASHINGTON.  4? 

mind  for  the  noble  opinions  and  character  which  he  afterward 
carried  into  his  great  career. 

On  the  north,  the  French  were  equally  active  in  pushing 
forward  settlements,  forts  and  possession.  Both  French  and 
English  were  seeking  alliance  with  the  Indians,  and  the  already 
disturbed  borders  indicated  a  coming  clash  of  arms.  In  both 
nations,  especially  in  the  colonies,  preparations  were  beginning. 
In  Virginia  the  war  spirit  was  aroused;  the  province  was  divided 
into  military  districts,  each  district  having  an  adjutant-general 
with  the  rank  of  major,  and  pay  of  one  hundred  and  fifty 
pounds  a  year.  Lawrence  Washington  sought  for  his  brother 
George  an  appointment  to  one  of  these  offices.  This  indicates 
the  maturity  of  mind  he  had  already  reached  to  have  gained 
such  confidence.  The  appointment  was  made  and  preparations 
were  begun  for  a  military  campaign  into  the  western  wilds. 
George  put  himself  under  the  military  drill  of  the  best  instruct- 
ors he  could  get,  and  Mount  Yernon  became  the  scene  of 
military  preparations  and  discipline. 

LAWRENCE   WASHINGTON'S   SICKNESS. 

But  these  preparations  were  stayed  by  the  ill  health  of  Law- 
rence Washington.  His  constitution  had  never  been  the  firmest, 
and  now  he  was  threatened  with  dangerous  pulmonary  symp- 
toms. By  the  advice  of  physicians,  it  was  determined  that  he 
should  spend  the  next  winter  in  the  West  Indies.  It  was  not 
thought  safe  for  him  to  go  alone,  nor  did  he  feel  like  going 
without  his  favorite  brother  George  with  him,  whose  strength 
and  wisdom  he  had  already  begun  to  lean  upon.  So  the  prepar- 
ations for  a  military  campaign  were  changed  to  preparations  for 
the  journey  to  the  West  Indies.  The  young  military  leader  was 
changed  to  a  fraternal  nurse.  On  the  twenty-eighth  of  Septem- 
ber, 1751,  Lawrence  and  George  started  on  their  tour  in  search 
of  health  for  the  invalid.  George  kept  a  journal  with  his  usual 
exactness.  They  reached  the  West  Indies  on  the  third  of 
November.  Here  were  new  things  in  the  style  of  life — the 
people  and  natural  productions  —  which  interested  George  at 
once;  but  they  had  been  there  but  two  weeks  when  he  was 


48  *   OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

taken  down  with  the  small-pox,  and  had  himself  to  be  nursed 
by  others.  Good  treatment  and  nursing  carried  him  through 
with  only  slight  marks  left  upon  his  face. 

Lawrence's  health  not  improving,  in  December  George 
returned  to  Virginia  for  Lawrence's  wife;  but  as  she  could  not 
go  immediately,  he  returned  to  his  home  in  the  early  Spring. 
But  nothing  could  stay  the  progress  of  his  consuming  disease, 
and  on  the  twenty-sixth  of  July,  1752,  he  died,  at  the  age  of 
thirty-four.  Now  George,  at  a  little  past  twenty  years  of  age, 
had  lost  his  father  and  his  brother,  who  had  been  father  and 
brother  in  one.  Lawrence  left  by  will  his  estate  to  his  wife  and 
daughter,  and  in  case  the  daughter  died  without  issue,  to  George 
at  the  decease  of  the  wife.  George  was  made  one  of  the  execu- 
tors. The  estate  did  at  last  come  to  George,  and  is  now  known 
as  the  sacred  resting  place  of  "The  Father  of  his  Country." 

A   PERILOUS  MISSION. 

The  difficulties  about  the  western  territories  increased.  The 
French  on  the  north  kept  pressing  forward  their  forts,  settle- 
ments and  claims.  They  sent  commissioners  among  the  Indian 
tribes  to  secure  their  cooperation.  They  made  bold  their  claim 
to  the  whole  Mississippi  valley,  even  to  the  head  waters  of  all 
the  tributaries  of  the  Ohio.  The  English  from  Pennsylvania 
and  Virginia  pressed  their  claims  and  sent  envoys,  traders  and 
settlers  among  the  Indians,  and  quickened  their  preparations  to 
occupy  the  coveted  territories. 

It  was  needful  to  know  the  minds  of  the  Indians,  the  pur- 
poses of  the  French,  the  condition  of  their  forts  and  settle- 
ments, and  what  was  needful  to  check  their  encroachments. 
This  knowledge  could  be  got  only  by  a  competent  ambassador  to 
the  French  commander  on  Lake  Erie. 

Governor  Dinwiddie,  of  Virginia,  looked  about  him  for  a 
man  equal  to  this  delicate  and  dangerous  errand.  He  must 
meet  and  treat  with  Indians,  friendly  and  unfriendly;  transact 
business  with  white  men  who,  while  professing  friendliness 
would  plot  his  destruction  and  the  defeat  of  his  mission;  trav- 
erse a  dense  forest  of  six  hundred  miles,  in  which  were  high 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON.  49 

mountains,  large  rivers,  morasses,  dangerous  animals,  and  more 
dangerous  savages  who  must  be  used  as  guides  and  for  supplies. 
It  needed  great  courage,  sagacity,  skill,  tact,  strength,  health 
and  self-sacrifice.  Who  was  equal  to  such  a  mission?  George 
Washington,  a  youth  of  twenty-one  years,  was  suggested  as  the 
man  with  the  requisite  combination  of  qualities.  After  due 
consideration  he  was  selected  and  invited  to  undertake  the  peril- 
ous mission.  The  ostensible  object  was  to  bear  a  message  of  the 
governor  of  Virginia,  in  the  name  of  the  king  of  England,  to 
the  commandant  of  the  fort  on  French  creek,  fifteen  miles 
south  of  Lake  Erie,  and  to  take  back  his  answer.  The  real 
object  was  to  reconnoitre  the  whole  country  and  learn  the  con- 
dition, purposes  and  strategy  of  the  enemy  with  whom  they 
were  likely  soon  to  come  into  close  conflict. 

Washington  undertook  the  mission,  and  set  out  from 
Williamsburg  October  30,  1753.  He  left  Wills'  creek,  Cumber- 
land river,  November  15,  with  Mr.  Gist,  an  intrepid  pioneer 
well  known  among  the  Indians;  John  Davidson,  an  Indian 
interpreter;  Jacob  Van  Braam,  a  French  interpreter,  and  four 
frontiersmen,  two  of  whom  were  Indian  traders. 

After  all  sorts  of  difficulties  with  Indians,  white  deserters, 
French  duplicity,  rain,  snow  and  mud,  he  reached  the  French 
fort  December  11. 

After  much  ceremony  and  parley,  he  got  his  reply  and 
started  on  his  return.  Winter  had  set  in.  The  streams  and 
swamps  were  full.  The  French  settlers,  huntsmen,  Indians  and 
stragglers,  were  all  made  acquainted  with  the  mission.  Every- 
where there  was  plotting  to  hinder,  bewilder  and  lead  astray  the 
party.  It  had  grown  smaller  till  it  was  reduced  to  Washington, 
Mr.  Gist  and  an  Indian  guide.  The  horses  had  been  left  and 
the  luggage  reduced  to  absolute  necessities.  Their  direct  course 
was  through  an  unbroken  wilderness  of  which  they  knew  noth- 
ing. The  conduct  of  the  guide  became  so  peculiar  that  their 
suspicions  were  awakened.  He  wanted  to  carry  Washington's 
gun;  led  them  as  they  believed  the  wrong  way;  became  churlish; 
pretended  that  there  were  inimical  Indians  in  the  woods.  At 
length,  when  some  fifteen  paces  ahead,  he  turned  suddenly, 
4 


50  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

leveled  his  gun  at  Washington  and  fired.  He  missed  his  mark, 
ran  on  hastily  a  few  rods  behind  a  large  tree  and  began  to 
reload  his  gun.  Finding  that  neither  of  them  was  hurt,  they 
went  to  him  and  when  his  gun  was  reloaded  took  it  from  him. 
Mr.  Gist  wanted  to  dispatch  the  Indian  at  once;  but  Washing- 
ton's scruples  were  too  great.  Then  Mr.  Gist  said:  "We  must 
get  rid  of  him;"  so  pretending  still  to  have  confidence  in  him 
they  sent  him  to  his  cabin,  which  he  said  was  not  far  away, 
promising  to  meet  him  there  in  the  morning.  When  he  was 
well  out  of  sight  they  started  and  traveled  all  night.  By  the 
next  night  they  reached  the  Alleghany  river.  It  was  frozen  only 
along  the  shore.  Great  quantities  of  'broken  ice  were  floating 
in  the  stream.  There  was  no  way  to  get  across  but  to  make  a 
raft;  and  only  one  poor  hatchet  for  a  tool.  It  was  one  whole 
day  before  they  got  a  raft  they  dared  venture  upon.  When  in 
the  middle  of  the  stream  poling  it  amid  the  ice  floes  as  they 
could,  a  block  of  ice  struck  the  pole  with  such  .force  as  to  knock 
Washington  from  the  raft  into  the  deep  stream.  He  saved  him- 
self by  catching  hold  of  a  raft  log.  They  had  to  let  their  raft 
go  and  get  to  an  island  by  the  help  of  the  float  wood,  which 
now  was  near  them.  Here  they  spent  the  night  and  nearly 
perished  with  cold.  But  the  cold  which  came  near  freezing 
them  to  death,  made  a  bridge  of  the  floating  ice,  so  that  they 
got  off  in  the  morning,  and  before  night  reached  the  Comfortable 
quarters  of  an  Indian  trader.  On  the  sixteenth  of  January 
they  returned  to  Williamsburg. 

Washington's  journal  of  this  mission  was  published  and 
spread  widely  through  the  colonies  and  in  England.  It 
awakened  England  to  the  danger  before  it,  and  it  fixed  the  eyes 
of  all  on  young  Washington  as  a  remarkable  youth,  of  prudence, 
sagacity  and  resolution  far  above  his  years.  His  admirable 
tact  in  treating  with  fickle  savages  and  crafty  white  men;  his 
soldierly  eye  to  the  true  condition  of  the  country,  its  exposures 
and  defences,  and  his  fortitude  and  faithfulness,  all  won  for 
him  the  confidence  and  admiration  of  his  countrymen.  From 
this  time  he  is  a  commanding  figure  in  the  colonies;  the  founda- 
tion of  his  great  name  and  work  is  laid. 


GEORGE  WAHSINGTOtf.  51 


AN"  EXPEDITION  TO  THE   OHIO. 

Washington  was  quick  to  observe  that  the  fork  of  the  Ohio, 
now  the  site  of  Pittsburgh,  was  the  key  to  the  country  west  and 
north  of  it,  and  suggested  that  it  be  occupied  and  well  fortified, 
Avhich  was  speedily  done.  Governor  Dinwiddie  made  strenuous 
endeavors  to  raise  a  body  of  soldiers  for  that  purpose.  Three 
hundred  were  enlisted  and  other  colonies  were  asked  to  share  in 
the  expedition.  Washington  was  offered  the  command,  but 
declined  on  account  of  his  youth  and  inexperience.  It  was  given 
to  Colonel  Fry,  an  English  officer,  who  made  Washington  his 
lieutenant-colonel. 

After  great  efforts  the  little  army  started  on  its  hard  march, 
half  supplied  and  half  paid,  and  with  almost  insurmountable 
obstacles  before  them.  Eecruits  came  in  slowly  and  some  of 
them  under  separate  commands.  They  had  not  been  many  days 
out  before  friendly  Indians  brought  them  word  that  the  French 
in  strong  force,  had  possession  of  the  fork  of  the  Ohio  and  were 
building  a  fort;  and  were  soon  to  be  reinforced  by  Indians  and 
more  French.  Washington  had  ..started  Avith  his  command  in 
advance  of  Colonel  Fry,  who  was  to  follow  with  artillery.  With 
infinite  trouble  with  his  raw  recruits  on  account  of  insubordina- 
tion, poor  pay,  poor  rations  and  supplies,  rivers,  swamps,  defiles 
and  mountains,  Washington  pushed  on  as  fast  as  possible, 
expecting  every  day  to  meet  advance  parties  of  the  enemy. 
Reaching  a  place  called  Great  Meadows,  he  cleared  a  field  of 
brush,  and  began  a  fort.  While  at  this  work  word  came  of  a 
party  of  the  enemy  but  a  few  miles  away.  With  Indian  allies 
who  had  joined  him,  Washington  took  such  men  as  could  be 
spared  from  his  camp,  and  started  for  the  enemy  hovering  about 
him,  with  a  view  to  surprise  them.  They  soon  came  upon  them 
unawares  and  a  sharp  conflict  ensued.  The  French  leader,  a 
young  officer  of  merit,  Jumonville,  was  killed  at  the  onset.  The 
action  was  short  and  sharp.  The  French  losing  rapidly,  gave 
way  and  ran.  They  had  ten  killed  and  twenty-one  taken 
prisoners.  This  Avas  Washington's  first  battle  He  led  it  in 
front  of  his  men  and  was  in  the  thickest  of  it.  Bullets  whistled 


52  CUE   PRESIDENTS. 

about  him,  but  he  was  not  harmed.  He  had  one  killed  and 
three  wounded. 

Washington's  situation  was  now  most  perilous.  Colonel  Fry 
had  not  yet  come  with  his  forces.  The  French  were  increasing 
their  numbers  from  the  north  and  from  the  Indians.  They 
were  strongly  fortified  in  their  fort,  and  had  large  scouting  par- 
ties all  about  him. 

Colonel  Fry  died  on  the  way.  More  recruits  came,  some  of 
them  independents,  which  proved  of  little  service.  But  Wash- 
ington pushed  on  toward'  the  enemy.  His  hope  was  to  make  an 
army  road,  get  recruits  from  the  colonies,  allies  from  the  Indians 
and  hold  the  enemy  at  bay  till  his  own  army  was  large  and 
strong  enough  to  take  the  fort  at  the  fork  of  the  Ohio.  But  the 
enemy  was  reinforced  faster  than  he  was;  better  armed  and  sup- 
plied; met  him  on  the  way  in  great  force,  and  compelled  him  to 
retreat  to  Fort  Necessity,  which  he  had  made  as  a  refuge.  There 
he  was  surrounded  with  such  numbers  that  he  capitulated,  but 
marched  his  army  off  in  order,  with  his  stores,  leaving  only  his 
artillery.  It  was  a  disastrous  attempt  to  gain  possession  of  the 
Ohio,  poorly  supplied  and  supported;  but  it  was  a  training 
school  for  a  great  general.  Washington's  courage,  zeal,  forti- 
tude and  military  capacity  were  all  recognized  by  the  country. 
His  conduct  was  so  much  above  his  years  that  it  prepared  the 
way  for  the  colonies  in  their  great  emergency,  years  after,  to  look 
to  him  to  lead  their  armies.  Without  this  disastrous  campaign 
the  world  might  never  have  had  the  great  General  and  President 
Washington.  This  is  an  instance  of  defeat  working  victory  of 
another  kind.  Seldom  do  we  see  the  Providential  hand  working 
its  great  affairs  till  long  after  the  work  is  done. 

BRADDOCK'S  CAMPAIGN. 

England  now  saw  that  something  vigorous  must  be  done  or 
the  French  would  make  good  their  claims  in  the  northwest.  So 
a  grand  army  of  regulars  in  the  service  was  sent  over  under  com- 
mand of  General  Braddock,  which  was  increased  by  Virginia  levies 
to  four  thousand,  to  cross  the  mountains  and  take  Fort  Duquesne, 
at  the  fork  of  the  Ohio,  and  possess  that  territory.  Washington 


GEOKGE   WASHINGTON-.  53 

was  invited  by  Braddock  to  accompany  him  on  his  staff.  He  had 
resigned  his  commission,  and  was  attending  to  his  affairs  at 
Mount  Vernon.  His  military  enthusiasm  was  enkindled  by  this 
grand  display  of  England's  best  troops,  such  as  had  never  been 
seen  before  on  American  soil,  and  he  accepted  the  invitation 
and  volunteered  in  the  service.  It  was  a  tiresome,  long  and 
disheartening  journey  they  had  over  the  mountains  and  through 
the  gorges.  Braddock  was  a  trained  British  officer;  believed  in 
British  order,  drill,  authority,  tactics  and  success.  He  would 
march,  drill,  pitch  his  tents,  call  his  rolls,  picket  his  camp, 
send  forward  his  scouts,  move  his  artillery,  order  his  battle  and 
proceed  with  it,  according  to  English  rule  or  not  at  all.  He 
despised  the  Indian  allies,  the  Virginia  levies  and  everything 
not  in  the  king's  regular  service.  He  was  conceited,  vain, 
pompous,  self-willed  and  absolute.  He  was  slow  to  take  advice 
of  Washington,  refused  to  learn  of  the  new  circumstances,  and 
was  sure  of  victory.  The  army  toiled  from  April  to  July  on  its 
weary  drag  through  the  wilderness,  only  to  get  a  most  ignoble 
defeat  just  before  reaching  the  fort.  It  was  surprised  and 
nearly  surrounded  by  French  and  Indians  who,  from  behind 
trees,  logs,  stones  and  knolls,  poured  into  it  fearful  showers  of 
well-aimed  bullets,  and  filled  all  the  region  with  unearthly 
whoops  and  yells.  The  regular  British  platoons  broke  like  fog 
before  a  gale  and  scattered  everywhere,  fired  at  random, 
wounded  the  trees,  killed  each  other,  became  a  mass  of  panic- 
stricken  confusion,  and  took  the  back  track,  leaving  everything 
behind  them,  not  having  seen  their  enemy  at  all.  Braddock 
was  wounded  and  died  at  Great  Meadows  on  his  retreat.  This 
disastrous  campaign  and  battle  have  gone  into  history  as  "  Brad- 
dock's  Defeat."  The  only  men  under  Braddock  who  did  good 
fighting  were  the  despised  Virginia  levies.  They  made  the  best 
of  their  opportunity,  and  though  terribly  thinned,  so  stunned 
the  enemy  as  to  prevent  a  chase  after  the  retreating  army. 

This  was  another  school  for  Washington.  He  learned  reg- 
ular English  warfare,  the  value  of  camp  order,  discipline,  drill; 
and  learned  also  that  British  regulars  were  a  poor  match  for 
American  hunters,  woodsmen  and  levies,  in  border  warfare. 


54  OUK    PRESIDENTS. 

This  defeat  alarmed  the  colonies  and  they  put  themselves  in 
order  for  defense.  Militia  companies  were  raised,  military 
equipments  procured,  money  was  promptly  voted  and  a  small 
home  army  provided  for  and  officered.  Washington  was 
appointed  commander-in-chief  of  the  Virginia  forces.  Not- 
withstanding he  had  been  the  leader  of  one  disastrous  campaign, 
and  on  the  staff  of  the  commanding  officer  of  another,  he  had 
not  lost,  but  rather  gained,  popularity.  He  was  the  only  man 
the  people  would  think  of  to  command  their  defense  of  their 
homes.  He  had  been  in  the  thickest  danger  of  two  fights  and 
had  come  out  unharmed.  Rev.  Samuel  Davies  spoke  of  him 
at  that  time,  as  "that  heroic  youth,  Colonel  Washington,  whom 
I  cannot  but  hope  Providence  has  hitherto  preserved  in  so  signal 
a  manner  for  some  important  service  to  his  country." 

The  next  year  a  great  campaign  against  the  French  all  along 
the  line  of  their  defenses,  was  more  successful.  On  Lake 
Champlain,  at  Lake  George,  Oswego  and  Niagara,  British  arms 
were  successful.  Washington,  in  correspondence  with  the 
northern  commanders,  was  working  up  his  Virginia  forces, 
people  and  house  of  burgesses,  to  join  in  the  final  reduction  of 
Fort  Duquesne.  But  after  laborious  preparation  and  toiling  to 
reach  it  with  an  army  competent  to  its  reduction,  it  was  found 
nearly  deserted  and  was  taken  without  resistance.  All  hope  of 
success  had  been  cut  off  from  the  north,  and  the  garrison  had 
mostly  departed.  The  next  season  the  war  closed  and  gave 
England  Canada  and  the  great  west,  which  a  French  statesman 
predicted  would  be  a  dear  possession  to  England,  as  her  colonies, 
now  grown  strong,  when  oppressed  with  taxation  would  resist 
it  with  independence. 

WASHINGTON'S  COURTSHIP  AND  MARRIAGE. 

In  working  up  the  final  expedition  against  Fort  Duquesne  it 
became  necessary  for  Washington  to  go  in  haste  to  Williams- 
burg.  In  crossing  the  Pamunkey  river  in  a  ferry  boat,  he  fell 
in  company  with  a  Mr.  Chamberlayne,  who  lived  in  the  neigh- 
borhood, and  who  in  true  Virginia  hospitality,  invited  him  to 
dine  with  him.  Washington  urged  the  necessity  of  haste  on  his 


GEORGE    WASHINGTON.  55 

mission,  but  was  prevailed  on  at  last  to  accept  the  invitation. 
Among  the  company  who  dined  there  that  day  was  a  young 
widow,  Mrs.  Martha  Custis,  daughter  of  Mr.  John  Dandridge, 
whose  husband  had  been  dead  some  three  years.  She  was  yet 
youthful,  small  in  stature,  but  well-formed,  of  a  fresh,  blooming 
complexion  and  engaging  manners.  Washington  was  the  best 
known  young,  man  in  Virginia  —  perhaps  in  America  —  the 
defender  of  the  colonial  homes  against  the  savage  Indians,  the 
commander-in-chief  of  the  Virginia  forces,  the  intimate  friend 
of  Lord  Fairfax  and  his  brother  William  and  his  accomplished 
family  —  himself  the  flower  of  an  honored  Virginia  family, 
wealthy  in  his  own  right  and  already  greatly  distinguished  for 
public  services.  Mrs.  Custis  had  been  well  reared,  was  of  a 
good  family,  accustomed  to  good  society,  had  been  the  wife  of 
an  honorable  gentleman  who  had  left  her  rich,  and  the  mother 
of  two  children,  twice  as  rich  as  she.  There  is  every  reason  for 
supposing  that  the  dinner  and  the  occasion  were  full  of  interest 
for  them  both,  and  that  both  were  at  their  best.  As  it  turned 
out,  Braddock's  army  was  not  taken  more  by  surprise  near  Fort 
Duquesne,  than  was  the  young  commander-in-chief  of  the  Vir- 
ginia forces  at  Mr.  Chamberlayne's  dinner  table. 

When  the  servant  brought  the  young  soldier's  horse  to  the 
door,  according  to  order,  he  was  in  no  mood  for  departing,  lie 
who  was  in  great  haste  before  dinner,  was  now  more  than  willing 
not  to  go  at  all,  and  ordered  his  servant  to  take  back  the 
horses  to  the  stable.  So  the  afternoon  and  evening  were  spent 
in  the  genial  company  of  his  new  made  friends  and  the  next 
morning  he  went  on  his  way  quite  full  of  other  thoughts  than 
those  which  took  him  to  Williamsburg.  But  he  had  learned 
that  Mrs.  Custis'  home  was  not  far  from  Williamsburg,  and  that 
she  would  soon  be  at  the  "  White  House,"  as  her  home  was 
called. 

Military  duties  pressed,  and  he  had  not  long  to  stay  at  Will- 
iamsburg; but  he  made  the  most  of  his  opportunity  and  before 
he  left,  the  young  couple  had  plighted  their  faith  in  each  other 
The  affairs  of  the  campaign  went  on  as  already  rehearsed  :  Fort 
Duquesne  was  taken,  the  war  ended,  peace  was  restored,  and  on 


56  OUR    PRESIDENTS. 

the  sixth  of  January,  1759,  George  Washington  and  Martha 
Custis  were  married  at  her  home  in  the  good  old  Virginia  way, 
in  the  midst  of  a  joyous  assemblage  of  mutual  friends,  to  them 
the  happiest  result  of  the  campaign  against  the  French  fort  at 
the  fork  of  the  Ohio. 

MOUNT   VERNON. 

For  three  months  after  their  marriage  the  young  people  lived 
at  the  White  House,  her  home.  AVhile  there  he  took  his  seat 
in  the  house  of  burgesses  at  Williamsburg.  By  a  vote  of  the 
house  previous  to  his  coming  it  was  agreed  to  give  him  a  signal 
welcome  through  an  address  by  the  speaker.  The  speech  was 
hearty  and  eulogistic,  and  recounted  his  distinguished  services 
to  his  country.  Washington  attempted  to  reply,  but  only 
blushed,  trembled  and  stammered.  "Sit  down,  Mr.  Washing- 
ton," said  the  speaker;  "your  modesty  equals  your  valor,  and 
that  surpasses  any  language  I  possess. " 

Mount  Vernon,  his  estate,  was  on  the  Potomac  river,  beauti- 
fully situated  on  a  bluff  of  land  which  gave  a  wide  view  of  the 
river  and  surrounding  country.  He  described  it  in  a  letter  to  a 
friend  thus:  "No  estate  in  United  America  is  more  pleasantly 
situated.  In  a  high  and  healthy  country;  in  a  latitude  between 
the  extremes  of  heat  and  cold;  on  one  of  the  finest  rivers  in  the 
world,  a  river  well  stocked  with  various  kinds  of  fish  at  all 
seasons  of  the  year,  and  in  the  spring  with  shad,  herring, 
bass,  carp  and  siurgeon  in  great  abundance.  The  borders  of 
the  estate  are  washed  by  more  than  ten  miles  of  tide-water; 
several  valuable  fisheries  appertain  to  it;  the  whole  shore,  in 
fact,  is  one  entire  fishery."  Here  on  this  rich  estate  George  and 
Martha  Washington  lived  in  old  Virginia  style,  with  many  col- 
ored domestics,  in  a  large  house  for  those  times,  with  many 
outbuildings,  in  the  midst  of  care,  plenty,  hospitality,  carrying 
on  a  great  business,  and  having  the  oversight  and  conduct  of  so 
great  an  agricultural  establishment.  Among  his  slaves  were 
men  of  nearly  all  trades  then  in  use.  Almost  everything  needed 
was  produced  on  the  estate,  and  the  owner  had  need  to  be  versed 
in  the  business  of  every  department.  It  was  Washington's  i 


GEOHGE    WASHINGTON.  57 

of  a  true  manly  life.  lie  loved  the  country,  the  soil,  agricul- 
tural pursuits;  he  loved  the  independence,  isolation,  dignity, 
plenty  of  the  planter  style  of  life.  After  he  had  taken  his 
wife  to  his  home,  he  wrote  to  a  friend:  "I  am  now,  I  believe, 
fixed  in  this  seat,  with  an  agreeable  partner  for  life,  and  I  hope 
to  find  more  happiness  in  retirement  than  I  ever  experienced  in 
the  wide  and  bustling  world."  His  wife  brought  him  over  a 
hundred  thousand  dollars  in  money  and  property,  and  her  two 
children — a  boy  six  and  a  girl  four  years  of  age  —  double  that 
amount  to  care  for;  so  that  his  retirement  to  a  private  and 
domestic  life  meant  business,  care  and  responsibility  on  a  large 
scale.  The  last  year  of  his  military  service  had  quite  impaired 
his  usually  robust  health,  which  now  rapidly  improved. 

Washington  was  an  Englishman,  at  this  time,  of  the  truest 
type,  loyal  to  the  king  and  constitution,  customs,  laws  and 
church  of  England.  There  was  no  country  like  England;  no 
people  like  Englishmen;  no  other  government  so  genuine, 
strong  and  noble.  He  had  much  intercourse  with  England; 
had  his  agents  there  to  whom  he  consigned  the  products  of  his 
estate  and  through  whom  he  made  purchases.  Ships  plied 
directly  between  England  and  the  Potomac  river.  There  was 
considerable  travel  between  Virginia  and  the  home  country. 
Many  young  men  were  sent  to  England  to  be  educated,  and  they 
kept  up  a  fresh  importation  of  English  customs,  tastes  and  style 
of  life. 

Virginia  was  the  most  English  at  this  time  of  any  of  the 
colonies,  and  prided  herself  on  this  distinction.  She  made  the 
least  departure  from  the  opinions  and  life  of  aristocratic 
England.  Such  homes  as  Washington's  were  conducted,  as 
much  as  they  could  be,  as  were  the  wealthier  homes  of  the 
mother,  country.  And  the  expectation,  no  doubt,  was  that  more 
and  more  American  society  would  take  the  form  of  English 
society.  The  war  that  had  been  just  fought  with  the  French 
and  Indians  was  in  part  to  get  more  room  for  the  English  gov- 
ernment to  spread  out  its  people,  laws  and  power. 

But  how  often  are  human  calculations  thwarted.  Washing- 
ton, now  called  to  serve  in  the  legislature  of  his  State,  in  the 


58  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

civil  service  of  his  country,  began  to  feel  the  greed,  and  injus- 
tice and  tyranny  of  the  English  government.  Her  laws  for  the 
colonies  were  restrictive;  often  entrenched  upon  their  rights; 
shut  up  their  trade  to  her  ships  and  ports;  her-  governors  in  the 
colonies  often  vetoed  the  most  wholesome  laws,  and,  like  Brad- 
dock  with  his  regulars,  seemed  to  forget  the  new  circumstances 
of  a  new  people.  As  he  learned  of  Braddock  that  the  English 
army,  conducted  on  the  home  system,  was  an  unwieldy,  slow 
and  expensive  thing  in  an  American  border  warfare;  so  he 
learned  in  the  civil  service  that  King  George  and  his  par- 
liament, and  the  governors  and  judges  they  sent  over,  were  as 
incompetent  to  conduct  the  civil  service  of  America.  Little  by 
little  he  was  learning  England's  faults;  learning  that  one  people 
cannot  legislate  for  and  rule  wisely  another  people  far  away  and 
living  under  essentially  different  circumstances. 

Washington  was  a  devoted  English  churchman,  was  a  vestry- 
man in  the  church  at  Alexandria,  and  also  at  Pohick,  and 
always  attended  church  with  his  family  when  the  weather  favored, 
and,  Mr.  Irving  says,  was  a  communicant.  This  consecrated  his 
devotion  to  England  and  its  government  and  order  of  life.  He 
was  in  the  House  of  Burgesses  when  questions  of  difference  came 
up  with  the  governor  and  home  government;  understood,  both 
as  a  legislator  and  a  business  man;  how  the  restrictive  navigation 
and  trade  and  anti-manufacturing  laws  hindered  the  business 
of  the  colonies ;  heard  the  arguments  pro  and  con ;  heard  the 
vefiement  and  powerful  eloquence  of  Patrick  Henry,  as  he  set 
forth  the  natural  rights  of  men  and  the  injury  to  those  rights  in 
the  colonies,  by  the  unnatural  and  oppressive  measures  of  the 
mother  country.  NotAvithstanding  his  great  love  of  England, 
he  could  not  be  blind  to  her  faults.  He  loved  the  colonies  and 
saw  the  great  prospects  before  them.  His  quickest,  deepest  sym- 
pathies were  for  humanity. 

In  Washington's  quiet  and  careful  life  at  Mount  Vernon,  he 
studied,  as  they  came  up  one  after  another,  the  great  questions 
at  issue  between  the  colonies  and  the  king  and  parliament,  and 
his  clear  judgment  favored  the  colonies  all  the  time.  As  a 
private  citizen  he  studied  the  great  questions  of  statecraft ;  of 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON".  59 

natural  and  colonial  rights;  of  the  English  constitution  and 
law ;  of  navigation  and  commerce;  of  taxation  and  represent- 
ation ;  of  the  rights  of  the  people ;  as  they  were  discussed  by 
the  great  minds  of  the  colonies  and  England  as  they  never 
had  been  before.  It  was  the  maturing  period  of  his  thoughts 
and  principles,  which  was  preparing  him  for  public  action  on 
that  grand  scale  and  in  those  stirring  scenes  which  made  him 
"The  father  of  his  country"  and  one  of  the  Avorld's  most  illus- 
trious of  men. 

PERSONAL   CHARACTERISTICS. 

It  is  pleasant  to  think  of  great  men  as  natural  men;  and  such 
was  Washington.  He  was  intensely  interested  in  human  things; 
in  human  ambitions  and  pleasures;  in  human  loves  and  affairs. 
He  was  careful  in  his  dress;  circumspect,  polite  and  deferential 
in  his  manners;  prudent  in  his  speech;  usually  self -governed, 
yet  of  strong  passions;  was  a  good  hunter;  enjoyed  duck-shoot- 
ing; entered  heartily  into  social  intercourse;  was  a  good  horse- 
man, and  took  pride  in  his  horses;  relished  jokes;  with  all  his 
dignity  and  aristocratic  associations,  was  democratic  in  his  sym- 
pathies. He  loved  women  and  children ;  was  a  thoroughly 
domestic  man;  he  loved  the  stir  and  show  and  power  of  military 
combination  and  movement;  loved  the  drill,  promptness  and 
obedience  of  a  good  soldier.  He  was  an  exact  and  methodical 
business  man ;  kept  his  accounts  with  punctilious  accuracy ; 
wrote  in  a  clear,  round  hand ;  kept  his  clothes,  books,  tools, 
affairs  in  complete  order  ;  was  a  good  correspondent,  warm  in 
his  friendships,  severe  in  his  censures  of  wrongdoing ;  cour- 
ageous, yet  prudent;  kept  a  diary  and  preserved  much  of  his 
personal  history;  was  bashful  and  modest;  not  given  to  public 
speech,  yet  never  fell  into  the  mistake  that  he  was  not  of  much 
account ;  was  a  reader  of  good  books  ;  an  accurate  observer  of 
men  and  things;  was  very  practical,  and  of  wide  and  varied 
wisdom;  was  large-hearted  and  public-spirited. 

In  his  full  manhood  he  stood  six  feet  high ;  was  broad- 
shouldered  and  full-chested ;  was  erect,  stately ;  moved  with 
grace  and  dignity.  He  was  of  robust  constitution,  invigorated 


60  OUR    PRESIDENTS. 

by  outdoor  occupation,  rigid  temperance  and  orderly  habits. 
Few  men  equaled  him  in  strength  and  endurance.  His  hair  was 
brown,  eves  blue,  complexion  florid,  head  round,  face  full, 
expression  calm  and  serious. 

COMMANDER  -  IN  -  CHIEF. 

While  Washington  was  quietly  attending  to  the  affairs  at 
Mount  Yernon  and  occupying  his  seat  in  the  house  of  bur- 
gesses at  its  sessions,  the  disturbed  affairs  of  the  colonies  moved 
rapidly  on  from  bad  to  worse  to  an  open  rupture  with  the 
mother  country,  as  related  in  the  first  chapter  of  this  book.  At 
the  suggestion  of  John  Adams,  in  the  general  Congress,  seconded 
by  Samuel  Adams,  he  was  nominated  and  unanimously  elected 
commander-in-chief  of  the  army  of  the  united  colonies.  It  was 
an  office  unsought  and  undesired.  He  accepted  it  to  serve  the 
distracted  colonies  and  the  suffering  people,  and  with  the  con  • 
viction,  as  he  said  to  Patrick  Henry  on  the  day  of  his  election, 
that  "This  day  will  be  the  commencement  of  the  decline  of  my 
reputation."  He  refused  all  pay,  asking  only  that  his  expenses 
be  provided  for.  No  man  in  America  was  more  honest  and 
earnest  in  the  position  the  colonies  had  taken,  and  he  cast  all  he 
had  and  was  into  the  cause,  believing  it  would  be  of  little  worth 
if  the  cause  was  not  sustained. 

Mr.  Bancroft,  in  his  history  of  the  United  States,  says: 
"  Never  in  the  tide  of  time  has  any  man  lived  who  had  in  so 
great  a  degree  the  almost  divine  faculty  to  command  the  con- 
fidence of  his  fellow  men  and  rule  the  willing.  Wherever  he 
became  known,  in  his  family,  his  neighborhood,  his  county,  his 
native  state,  the  continent,  the  camp,  civil  life,  the  United 
States,  among  the  common  people,  in  foreign  courts,  through- 
out the  civilized  world  of  the  human  race,  and  even  among  the 
savages,  he,  beyond  all  other  men,  had  the  confidence  of  his 
kind." 

Washington  was  elected  commander-in-chief  on  the  fifteenth 
of  June,  1775.  He  accepted  the  office  with  great  diffidence,  believ- 
ing himself  not  equal  to  its  great  duties.  He  started  as  soon  as 
he  could  set  his  affairs  m  order;  not  stopping  to  visit  his  family 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON.  61 

at  Mount  Vernon.  He  met  everywhere  on  the  way  the  acclama- 
tions of  the  people.  Confidence  and  enthusiasm  were  inspired 
at  once  in  many  who  had  been  distrustful  and  disheartened. 

On  the  third  day  of  July,  at  Cambridge,  Massachusetts,  under 
an  elm  tree  on  the  common,  attended  by  great  numbers  of  the  best 
citizens,  Washington  assumed  the  command  of  the  continental 
army.  It  was  a  great  day  for  America;  a  great  day  for  England 
also,  for  the  liberties  of  her  people  were  to  be  preserved  and 
developed,  as  well  as  of  those  of  the  colonies;  a  great  day  for 
the  world,  for  Washington's  sword  was  unsheathed  for  the 
rights  of  humanity. 

Governor  Trumbull,  of  Connecticut,  wrote  him:  "Be  strong, 
and  very  courageous."  Washington  replied:  "The  cause  of  our 
common  country  calls  us  both  to  an  active  and  dangerous  duty; 
Divine  Providence,  which  wisely  orders  the  affairs  of  men,  will 
enable  us  to  discharge  it  with  fidelity  and  success. " 

BOSTON   BESIEGED. 

Washington  found  Boston  in  the  hands  of  a  British  army  of 
some  ten  thousand  men,  well  equipped,  and  supported  by  ships 
and  munitions,  under  command  of  General  Gage.  It  was  a 
pretentious,  self-assured  army,  confident  of  an  easy  victory  over 
the  rural  rebels  who  had  come  down  from  the  hills  and  shut 
them  in.  Their  British  conceit  had  been  a  little  punished  by 
the  frays  at  Lexington  and  Bunker  Hill,  but  a  little  of  the  art 
and  power  of  English  war,  it  was  expected,  would  send  them 
flying  to  their  hills  and  homes  again. 

About  three  fifths  of  the  citizens  of  Boston  were  remaining 
in  their  homes,  suffering  many  indignities  and  deprivations. 

The  army  which  Washington  had  come  to  command  was  a 
mixed  multitude,  gathered  from  the  ships,  shops  and  farms, 
under  very  little  discipline,  order,  or  government.  It  was 
poorly  officered  and  armed,  with  but  little  ammunition  and  a 
poor  prospect  of  getting  supplied.  It  lacked  everything  which 
makes  an  efficient  army,  but  high  principles  and  manly  courage; 
but  perhaps  never  so  large  a  body  of  men  in  an  army  knew 
better  what  they  wanted  and  were  resolved  to  have.  It  was 


62  OUK    PKESIDENTS. 

stretched  in  an  irregular  semi-circle,  a  distance  of  nine  miles, 
around  Boston  from  Dorchester  to  Maiden.  Its  immediate 
business  there  was  to  keep  the  British  lion  in  the  den  into  which 
he  had  crept  from  the  sea;  its  real  and  ultimate  purpose  was  to 
tell  King  George  and  his  parliament  that  the  American  colonies 
would  not  pay  taxes  without  representation,  nor  submit  to 
unjust  laws. 

Washington  immediately  set  about  making  this  intelligent, 
strong-willed,  high-principled  rabble  into  an  army;  learning  the 
exact  situation  of  things  in  and  about  Boston,  and  quickening 
congress  and  the  several  colonies  to  supply  the  wants  and 
increase  and  make  permanent  the  force  of  the  army.  The  sum- 
mer and  autumn  were  spent  in  making  the  girdle  about  Boston 
stronger,  in  hedging  up  the  highways  in  and  out;  in  sweeping 
the  surrounding  islands  of  stock  and  supplies;  in  getting  horses, 
cattle  and  supplies  back  into  the  country;  in  entrenching, 
throwing  up  breastworks,  planting  batteries,  gathering  arms, 
ammunition,  tents,  wagons;  in  drilling,  picketing,  skirmishing 
and  capturing  squads  of  the  enemy. 

This  spade  and  pickaxe  warfare  by  the  close  of  the  year  had 
planted  batteries  on  all  the  near  heights  around  Boston, 
guarded  with  entrenchments  all  the  outlets  and  waterways, 
built  forts  where  these  would  best  serve  the  siege  operations, 
and  made  the  British  lion's  palace  a  prison  with  short  rations 
and  a  good  prospect  of  none  at  all  in  a  little  while.  In  the  way 
of  military  glory  the  British  lion  had  got  Lexington  and 
Bunker  Hill;  in- the  way  of  luxury  and  booty  it  had  got  a  mili- 
tary prison  without  supplies.  In  February,  Washington 
entrenched  himself  strongly  on  Dorchester  Heights,  which  com- 
manded the  city  and  the  harbor.  Early  in  March  he  was  well 
entrenched  on  Nook's  Hill,  which  commanded  Boston  Neck. 
And  now  the  roaring  lion  became  a  frightened  sheep,  and  took 
to  his  swift  feet  and  ran  into  his  ships  and  set  sails  for  the  open 
sea.  Evacuated,  Boston  was  the  proud  old  city  again,  and  her 
citizens  flocked  home  with  great  joy.  The  colonies  were  glad, 
and  praised  the  Lord.  Washington  had  gained  a  great  victory 
in  his  first  campaign  without  fighting  a  battle. 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON.  «b 

On  the  twenty-ninth  of  March  both  Houses  of  the  Massachusetts 
Legislature  made  a  joint  address  of  congratulation  to  Washington, 
in  which  they  said:  "Go  on;  still  go  on,  approved  by  heaven, 
reverflt  by  all  good  men  and  dreaded  by  tyrants.  May  future 
generations,  in  the  peaceful  enjoyment  of  that  freedom  which 
your  sword  shall  have  established,  raise  the  most  lasting  monu- 
ments to  the  name  of  Washington." 

The  Continental  Congress  voted  him  thanks  and  a  commem- 
orative medal  of  gold,  in  reply  to  which  lie  gave  all  the  credit  of 
the  great  triumph  to  his  soldiers,  saying:  "They  were,  indeed, 
at  first,  a  band  of  undisciplined  husbandmen — but  it  is,  under 
God,  to  their  bravery  and  attention  to  duty,  that  I  am  indebted 
for  that  succcess  which  has  procured  me  the  only  reward  I  wish 
to  receive — the  affection  and  esteem  of  my  countrymen. " 

NEW    YORK   IN    DANGER. 

Where  had  the  frightened  enemy  gone?  His  multitude  of 
ships,  loaded  with  his  army  and  all  his  munitions  of  war,  had 
put  out  to  sea.  Where  would  they  land?  Washington  feared 
that  New  York  was  his  coveted  prey,  so  the  next  day  he  started 
five  regiments  for  the  defense  of  that  city,  and  sent  letters  and 
swift  messengers  to  awaken  Congress,  the  governor  and  the  people 
to  their  danger. 

The  enemy  landed  on  Staten  Island,  and  soon  crossed  to  Long 
Island.  The  severe  battle  of  Long  Island  followed,  which  was 
disastrous  to  Washington's  too-weak  line  of  defense,  and  he  had 
to  fall  back  into  the  city,  and  finally  to  the  higher  ground  in  the 
rear  of  the  city.  The  many  water  ways  about  the  city  gave  the 
enemy  opportunity  to  use  his  ships  and  their  heavy  armament 
against  the  colonial  forces.  Now  began  one  of  the  severest  cam- 
paigns of  the  revolution.  Heavy  reinforcements  had  come  from 
England,  with  hired  soldiers  from  the  continent.  A  strong 
army  had  been  sent  up  the  St.  Lawrence  into  Lake  Champlain 
and  Lake  George,  to  cut  its  way  down  to  Albany,  and  so  down 
the  Hudson  to  New  York,  and  meet  with  the  army  in  New 
York,  which  was  expected  to  break  through  Washington's 
line  and  go  up  the  Hudson,  thus  cutting  turbulent  New  England 


64  OUE    PRESIDENTS. 

off  from  the  rest  of  the  colonies.  In  the  meantime  Philadel- 
phia and  Charleston  were  to  be  threatened  and  attacked,  if  pos- 
sible, to  keep  the  southern  colonies  busy  in  their  own  defense. 
So  it  Avas  to  be  war  all  around. 

Lord  Howe,  who  now  commanded  the  British  armies  in 
America,  was  a  wary  and  strategic  commander.  He  was  full  of 
feints.  If  he  thought  to  break  his  way  round  the  east  side  of 
New  York,  he  would  make  a  great  demonstration  into  New 
Jersey,  as  though  to  force  his  way  round  west,  to  draw  the 
American  forces  as  far  a\vay  from  his  intended  course  as  possible. 
If  he  purposed  to  move  by  land,  he  would  make  a  great  parade 
of  ships  lading  for  a  sea  movement.  The  whole  spring,  sum- 
mer and  autumn  were  spent  in  attempts  in  different  directions, 
skirmishes  here  and  there,  pushing  for  the  Hudson  at  one  time, 
up  the  sound  for  Newport  at  another,  sending  Cornwallis  with 
a  strong  army  late  in  the  fall  making  toward  Philadelphia. 
"Washington,  full  of  every  care,  pacifying  his  disaffected  officers, 
struggling  to  retain  his  homesick  soldiers  in  the  field  and  to 
recruit  his  thinning  ranks;  instruct  Congress  in  the  facts  and 
needs  of  the  army,  and  inspire  the  disheartened  colonies,  had 
his  wary  and  powerful  enemy  to  watch  and  head  off  in  every 
direction.  By  the  first  of  December  it  became  apparent  that 
the  main  body  of  the  British  army  under  Lord  Cornwallis 
were  aiming  at  Philadelphia.  The  British  were  jubilant. 
Proclamation  was  made  to  the  people  of  New  Jersey  to  surren- 
der and  accept  of  pardon  or  meet  the  consequences  of  destruct- 
ive war.  Many  surrendered;  nearly  all  were  dismayed. 

Washington  put  himself  and  his  small  army  in  front  of  Corn- 
wallis' jubilant  legions  and  fought  them,  retreating  himself  the 
length  of  the  state.  He  destroyed  bridges,  hedged  up  their 
way  and  hindered  them  in  every  way  possible,  all  the  time  urg- 
ing his  commanders  elsewhere  to  hurry  to  his  help.  He  appealed 
to  Congress,  to  Pennsylvania  and  New  Jersey  to  rally  now  in 
this  darkest  hour  of  freedom's  cause.  His  army  was  weakening 
every  day  by  the  expiration  of  the  term  of  service.  Some  of  his 
generals  were  churlish  and  fretful  and  did  not  try  to  get  forward 
to  his  help.  That  December  was  a  fearful  month  to  the  colonies. 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON.  65 

"Poor  Washington/'  as  some  spoke  of  him,  was  left  largely  to 
hig  own  great  wisdom  and  courage.  Mr.  Bancroft  says:  "Hope 
and  zeal  illuminated  his  grief.  His  emotions  come  to  us  across 
the  century  like  strains  from  that  eternity  which  repairs  all 
losses  and  rights  all  wrongs;  in  his  untold  sorrows  his  trust  in 
Providence  kept  up  in  his  heart  an  undersong  of  wonderful 
sweetness."  Congress  was  alarmed  and  fled  to  Baltimore. 
Philadelphia  was  in  a  panic  and  deserted  by  great  numbers. 
Distress  was  everywhere.  The  British  believed  the  colonies 
were  just  about  conquered.  Yet  Washington  was  firm  and  was 
making  plans  for  next  year's  campaign.  As  he  approached  the 
Delaware,  he  secured  all  the  boats  up  and  down  the  river  for 
seventy  miles,  and  prepared  for  resistance  at  all  the  crossings. 
Here  he  determined  to  make  a  stand.  Militia  were  recruited. 
Help  came  from  other  sections  of  the  American  army.  The 
enemy  had  become  confident  and  careless. 

On  the  night  of  the  twenty-fifth  of  December,  1776,  Washing- 
ton had  arranged  to  recross  the  Delaware  and  attack  the  enemy  at 
three  points.  The  plan  was  to  cross  in  three  places,  some  miles 
apart,  and  make  the  attack  in  three  places  simultaneously. 
Washington  led  the  left  and  uppermost  division.  The  night 
was  fearfully  cold  and  stormy.  The  river  was  running  with 
heavy  ice-floes.  The  lower  divisions  of  the  army  both  failed  to 
cross.  Washington  and  his  forces,  after  almost  superhuman 
efforts,  got  across ;  marched  down  several  miles  to  Trenton, 
attacked  the  British  army  a  little  after  daylight,  won  a  brilliant 
victory,  and  sent  its  scattered  remains  flying  backward  toward 
New  York.  Now  the  tide  was  turned.  The  best  skill  of  the 
enemy  was  needed  to  save  an  utter  defeat.  He  was  punished  in 
many  a  skirmish  and  soon  learned  that  the  colonies  were  not 
conquered.  So  inspiring  was  Washington's  success  at  Trenton 
and  in  the  movements  following,  that  the  colonies  were  soon 
making  ready  for  another  campaign. 

Washington  crossing  the  Delaware  has  gone  into  history, 

poetry  and  painting,  as  one  of '  the  master  strokes  of  military 

courage  and  genius,  by  which  the  world's  destinies  were  grandly 

affected.     It  is  hoped  that  the  readers  of  this  too  brief  sketch 

5 


66  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

will  read  the  grand  and  thrilling  accounts  given  by  Mr.  Ban- 
croft in  his  history  of  the  United  States,  and  Mr.  Irving  in  his 
unequaled  biography  of  Washington.  Every  American  should 
be  familiar  with  those  stirring  times  that  tried  men's  souls. 

PHILADELPHIA    CAPTURED. 

The  campaign  of  1777  opened  slowly.  Burgoyne  had  received 
command  of  a  large  British  army  to  open  its  way  from  Lake 
Champlain  down  to  Albany,  and  so  on  down  the  Hudson  to 
New  York. 

Lord  Howe  was  in  New  York;  with  a  part  of  his  army  in 
New  Jersey,  a  part  on  Long  Island,  and  a  part  at  Newport.  In 
the  early  summer  he  made  some  movements  in  New  Jersey,  but 
on  the  thirteenth  of  June  left  that  state  to  return  to  it  no  more. 

In  July,  Lord  Howe  embarked  his  whole  army  on  board  his 
transports  and  put  out  to  sea.  Washington  had  no  doubt  he 
was  aiming  at  Philadelphia.  In  August,  the  British  fleet 
appeared  in  Chesapeake  bay  and  landed  with  a  view  to  a  direct 
march  to  Philadelphia.  Washington  was  soon  before  him  to 
retard  his  progress  as  best  he  might.  The  battle  of  the  Brandy- 
wine  was  soon  fought ;  but  it  only  checked  the  progress  of  the 
enemy.  In  September,  the  British  army  reached  and  entered 
Philadelphia ;  but  Washington  gained  one  of  his  purposes  which 
was  to  hinder  Howe  from  reaching  Philadelphia  in  season  to 
form  a  junction  "with  Burgoyne  from  the  north.  He  detained 
him  thirty  days  in  a  march  of  fifty-four  miles. 

Burgoyne  had  an  army  of  ten  thousand  troops,  well  equipped, 
to  break  his  way  from  Lake  Champlain  through  to  Albany  and 
down  the  Hudson.  Washington  had  spared  all  the  men  he 
could  to  oppose  Burgoyne.  He  had  weakened  his  own  army  to 
make  strong  that  of  the  north.  Burgoyne's  success  would  be  a 
fire  in  the  rear,  which  must  not  be  allowed  if  it  could  be  pre- 
vented. 

This  was  one  of  Washington's  most  trying  times.  Several  of 
his  generals  were  complaining  of  him,  and  plotting  either  for 
independent  commands  or  to  supplant  him.  Some  leading  con- 
gressmen, and  even  John  Adams,  were  severe  on  his  excessive 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON.  67 

prudence  and  disposition  to  avoid  a  general  battle  with  Howe. 
Some  of  the  earliest  and  noblest  patriots,  like  John  Dickinson, 
were  disheartened.  Some  said,  if  we  only  had  some  strong 
mind  to  lead  us  we  could  drive  the  British  from  our  shores. 

Yet  the  people  loved  and  confided  in  Washington;  and  con- 
gress always,  in  emergencies,  gave  him  full  power  and  asked  him 
what  the  civil  arm  should  do. 

In  a  few  days  after  Lord  Howe  entered  Philadelphia,  and  the 
cause  of  the  colonies  seemed  as  dark  as  it  did  the  year  before 
when  Washington  was  flying  before  Cornwallis  in  New  Jersey. 
General  Gates  surrounded,  fought  and  captured  Burgoyne's 
army.  It  was  one  of  the  grandest  victories  of  the  Eevolution, 
and  taught  England  what  the  colonists  would  do  with  her  armies 
when  well  back  in  the  woods. 

The  winter  of  1777  and  1778  Washington  and  his  army  spent 
at  Valley  Forge,  watching  Howe  in  Philadelphia  and  suffering 
untold  hardships  of  cold,  hunger,  nakedness,  sickness,  short 
pay,  neglect  and  exposure  of  every  kind.  Washington  himself 
was  fearfully  harrassed  by  dissensions  among  his  leading  gen- 
erals, intrigue,  opposition  and  faction  in  and  out  of  congress, 
which  threatened  more  evil  to  the  country  than  the  British 
army.  It  was  a  terrible  winter.  But  the  effect  of  the  capture 
of  Burgoyne  was  doing  much  for  the  cause  of  the  colonies  in 
Europe.  France  acknowledged  their  independence,  and  formed 
a  treaty  of  alliance  with  them.  England  sent  commissioners  to 
treat  for  peace  with  them,  but  they  would  not  receive  them  till 
she  would  withdraw  her  armies  or  acknowledge  their  independ- 
ence. Washington  saw  clearly  the  certain  triumph  of  the 
American  cause  if  only  the  people  would  hold  out  and  Congress 
and  the  army  officers  would  work  in  harmony.  His  great 
endeavor  was  to  encourage  the  people,  harmonize  Congress  and 
his  officers,  secure  obedience  to  his  orders  and  cooperation  in  his 
measures.  Never  was  great  wisdom  more  tried  and  a  great  heart 
more  tortured.  But  slowly  and  surely  he  silenced  his  enemies 
in  the  camp  and  in  Congress,  kept  the  heart  of  the  people  warm 
toward  himself  and  the  cause,  and  won  the  admiration  of  the 
watching  world. 


68  OUE    PRESIDENTS. 

THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  1778. 

Lord  Howe's  ill  success  lost  him  the  confidence  of  his  gov- 
ernment, and  Sir  Henry  Clinton  was  appointed  to  the  command 
of  the  English  armies  in  America.  As  soon  as  spring  opened 
the  way  he  evacuated  Philadelphia,  sending  his  ships  and  stores 
to  New  York,  and  marching  his  army  across  the  Jerseys  to  join 
all  his  forces  in  that  city.  Washington  was  immediately  hound- 
ing his  slow  footsteps,  harrassing  his  flanks,  attacking  his 
advance  and  rear,  and  preventing  him  from  doing  mischief  on  his 
march.  Clinton  had  not  more  than  got  into  New  York  when  a 
strong  French  fleet  appeared  at  the  mouth  of  the  Delaware  with 
four  thousand  men  to  cooperate  with  the  Americans.  The  rest 
of  the  summer  was  spent  in  forays,  attempts  and  failures,  and 
the  next  winter  set  in  with  Clinton's  forces  scattered  along  the 
coast  from  Khode  Island  to  Florida,  and  Washington's  at  stations 
back  in  the  country  from  Connecticut  to  Georgia,  with  the 
French  fleet  in  the  West  Indies. 

THE   CAMPAIGN   OF   1779. 

Washington  spent  the  most  of  the  winter  of  1778  and  1779  in 
Philadelphia  preparing  for  the  next  campaign.  It  was  another 
anxious  winter  with  him.  The  French  army  and  fleet  which  had 
come  to  our  help  had  done  us  no  good,  but  had  created  a  feeling 
among  the  people  that  France  was  going  to  fight  our  battles 
now,  and  we  could  let  the  war  take  care  of  itself.  This  feeling 
had  lulled  the  people  into  what  Washington  feared  was  a  fatal 
sense  of  security.  The  most  of  the  great  minds  of  the  earlier 
Congress  had  left  it  for  posts  abroad,  in  the  army,  in  state  affairs 
or  private  business,  so  that  it  had  lost  much  of  its  former  power. 
It  had  dissension  and  irresolution.  The  belief  had  become  gen- 
eral that  the  English  people  were  becoming  tired  of  fighting 
their  own  children,  and  so  would  soon  give  it  up.  Our  people 
had  suffered  much,  and  while  they  had  no  disposition  to  sur- 
render, they  had  become  indolent  in  duty  to  the  great  cause. 
Many  of  them  had  become  interested  in  the  state  governments 
and  had  not  become  accustomed  to  a  double  form  of  government 


GEOKGE   WASHINGTON.  69 

and  loyalty  to  both.  All  these  things  had  created  a  stupor 
which  pained  and  alarmed  Washington. 

Sir  Henry  Clinton  seemed,  by  his  movements  all  summer,  to 
have  no  general  plan  in  view,  but  to  content  himself  with  doing 
mischief  in  every  direction,  in  destruction  of  property,  burning 
buildings  and  spreading  desolation.  Late  in  December,  he  left 
New  York  with  all  the  ships  and  troops  which  could  be  spared 
from  its  defense,  to  attempt  the  capture  of  Charleston  and  the 
submission  of  South  Carolina. 

Washington,  during  the  year,  had  to  be  governed  by  the 
movements  of  his  wary  adversary,  and  so  nothing  especially 
decisive  was  accomplished  by  this  campaign  of  1779.  The  coun- 
try had  suffered  much  by  the  losses  and  destructions  of  the  war. 
The  productive  interests  had  languished.  Food  and  forage 
were  short  and  dear;  business  paralyzed;  the  currency  at  a  dis- 
count; everything  in  a  state  of  ferment.  The  courage  of  many 
was  faltering;  many  who  began  the  war  with  zeal  had  grown 
half  indifferent;  yet  AVashington's  high  courage  was  steadfast, 
and  though  he  did  not  know  it,  he  was  building  the  monuments 
of  his  world-wide  fame  higher  and  higher.  It  was  this  year 
that  he  received  men  of  high  standing  from  France  and  treated 
them  with  the  greatest  consideration,  though  his  dinner  was  the 
plainest  and  simplest  that  could  be  served.  When  ladies  dined 
with  him  he  was  especially  polite  and  considerate,  no  matter 
how  little  he  had  to  offer  them.  While  the  British  officers  were 
supplied  with  every  luxury  and  spent  their  winters  in  riotous 
luxury  and  indolence,  the  Americans  were  often  nearly  destitute 
of  the  common  comforts.  Severe  indeed  were  the  hardships  of 
the  men  who  won  the  independence  of  America. 

The  winter  of  1779  and  1780  was  spent  at  Morristown;  a  fear- 
fully cold  and  suffering  winter.  Washington's  army,  perishing 
with  cold  and  hunger,  could  be  kept  together  only  by  enforcing 
food  from  the  counties  as  a  military  necessity.  To  add  to  the 
horrors  of  the  winter,  Sir  Henry  Clinton  took  his  fleet,  with 
several  thousand  men,  to  Charleston  and  forced  a  capitulation 
of  that  city,  and  as  he  believed,  the  conquest  of  South  Carolina. 
In  the  mean  time,  the  army  left  in  New  York  made  raids  into 


70  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

New  Jersey,  and  an  attempt  on  Morristown,  when  Washington 
and  a  part  of  his  army  were  absent  toward  the  Hudson.  In 
these  raids  villages,  farm  houses  and  churches  were  destroyed. 
In  June,  Sir  Henry  Clinton  returned  with  his  ships  and  as 
much  of  his  army  as  he  dared  take  from  Charleston  to  Xew 
York.  But  before  this,  Lafayette  had  returned  from  France 
and  privately  informed  Washington  that  a  fleet  and  army  were 
on  the  way  from  France  to  help. 

THE   CAMPAIGN   OF   1780. 

The  summer  of  1780  opened  with  difficulties  of  every  kind 
increased.  The  American  army  was  small  and  scattered;  the 
currency  had  sunk  more  than  sixty  per  cent  in  value;  General 
Arnold  had  fallen  into  difficulties  which  threatened  his  further 
usefulness;  General  Greene,  Washington's  most  trusted  and 
efficient  general,  had  incurred  the  displeasure  of  congress  and 
nearly  lost  his  commission;  Georgia  and  South  Carolina  were 
under  British  dominance;  New  Jersey  had  been  swept  over  by 
the  opposing  armies  and  the  people  everywhere  were  worn 
and  weary  with  the  destructive  war.  Besides  these  troubles, 
every  community  had  more  or  less  tories,  who  were  aiding  the 
enemy  in  every  possible  way.  Yet,  at  the  bottom,  people,  army 
and  officers,  except  the  tories,  were  for  fighting  and  suffering  on. 

On  the  tenth  of  July  a  French  fleet  of  seven  ships  of  the 
line,  two  frigates,  with  bombs  and  transports  and  five  thousand 
men,  landed  at  Newport.  This  help  in  a  time  of  need  brought 
the  promise  of  more.  But  on  the  thirteenth  came  reinforce- 
ments to  the  British.  General  Gates  was  appointed  to  the 
command  of  the  southern  department  of  the  American  forces, 
and  began  with  such  confidence  as  to  lead  a  strong  force  into 
the  very  embrace  of  the  enemy  and  bring  on  a  great  disaster. 
Washington  had  but  just  heard  of  this,  when  Major  Andre,  the 
British  spy,  was  caught  with  the  evidence  of  Arnold's  treason  on 
his  person.  "Whom  can  we  trust?"  was  Washington's  first 
remark  on  receiving  the  intelligence.  Troubles  thickened  on 
every  side.  But  he  immediately  fortified  West  Point,  which 
Arnold  had  attempted  to  sell  tc  the  enemy,  and  put  General 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON.  71 

Greene,  his  most  trusted  officer,  in  its  command  with  a  strong 
force.  By  a  kind  of  rigid  justice,  grateful  to  every  American, 
West  Point  has  become  the  seat  of  the  national  school  for 
training  the  defenders  of  American  nationality  and  liberty; 
while  Arnold's  name  is  coupled  with  that  of  Judas. 

The  season  closed  with  skirmishes  north  and  south,  and 
with  many  intimations  that  the  British  commander  inclined  to 
carry  the  war  more  forcibly  into  the  south;  as  Georgia  and  South 
Carolina  had  not  offered  so  much  resistance  as  the  northern 
states.  Nothing  marked  was  done  in  this  campaign. 

THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  1781. 

The  sufferings  of  the  army  were  so  severe  this  winter,  that 
there  were  several  mutinies,  and  on  one.  occasion  quite  a  body  of 
soldiers  organized  to  march  to  Philadelphia  and  compel  Congress 
to  supply  their  Avants  and  make  sure  their  pay.  This  was  a  new 
trouble. 

But  the  invasion  of  the  Carolinas  by  Cornwallis  aroused  the 
people ;  and  Sumpter,  Marion  and  Morgan  gathered  the  militia 
to  the  help  of  Greene,  who  had  now  been  appointed  to  the  com- 
mand of  the  American  army  in  the  south.  The  invaders  were 
severely  punished.  The  tide  of  the  conflict  was  various,  but  the 
British  were  the  greater  losers.  The  tories  did  not  render  them 
the  help  they  expected,  while  the  resistance  was  greater  than 
they  had  provided  for.  They  found  that  the  open  country  in 
the  south  was  scarcely  more  hospitable  to  them  than  in  the 
north;  and  that  nowhere  in  America  were  they  safe  out  of  the 
reach  of  their  protecting  ships  of  war. 

The  tide  of  war  now  set  rapidly  southward,  as  Washington* 
expected  it  would.  Both  the  British  and  the  French  fleets  went 
to  the  Chesapeake  bay  and  came  into  a  sharp  conflict  which 
injured  both;  but  gave  neither  a  victory.  Washington  had  sent 
Lafayette  south  with  all  the  force  he  could  spare.  Lafayette 
had  charge  of  the  forces  in  Virginia,  which  were  managed  with 
great  judgment  and  skill,  according  to  Washington's  plan  of 
avoiding  battles  only  when  sure  of  favorable  results.  Greene 


72  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

commanded  in  the  Carolinas  and  Georgia,  on  the  same  plan  and 
with  excellent  results. 

In  July,  Washington  led  all  the  forces  he  could  spare  from 
before  New  York,  and  the  French  forces  also,  toward  Virginia, 
with  a  view  to  the  capture  of  Cornwallis  and  his  army,  now  at 
Yorktown.  Their  passage  through  Philadelphia  was  hailed' 
by  the  people  with  great  enthusiasm.  The  French  army, 
neatly  uniformed,  well  drilled,  officered  and  supplied  with 
bands  of  music  and  rich  flags,  made  an  appearance  dazzling  to 
American  eyes. 

About  the  first  of  September,  Count  De  Grasse  came  into  the 
Chesapeake  with  heavy  reinforcements  of  war  ships  and  land 
forces.  In  conjunction  with  these,  it  was  Washington's  plan 
to  make  Yorktown  a  coop  for  Cornwallis.  Forces  were  march- 
ing from  every  quarter  with  the  greatest  speed.  The  French 
army  from  Newport ;  the  new  French  forces  landed  from  De 
Grasse's  fleet ;  Washington  with  all  he  could  rally  from  New 
York,  Pennsylvania  and  New  Jersey;  Lafayette  with  his  forces; 
the  governor  of  Virginia  with  such  militia  as  he  could  muster; 
were  all  hurrying  toward  Yorktown,  while  the  fleet  waited  at 
the  mouth  of  York  river.  Greene  was  left  to  threaten  Charles- 
ton and  hold  the  attention  of  the  British  in  that  region. 

Early  in  October  the  great  girdle  began  to  draw  around 
Cornwallis.  He  expected  naval  help  from  New  York,  but 
he  did  not  see  his  danger  soon  enough  to  get  it.  His 
only  resource  was  to  entrench  and  defend.  All  Washing- 
ton's plans  carried.  Armies  from  afar  reached  Virginia  in 
time.  The  French  fleet  was  but  a  few  days  behind  the  antici- 
pated time  for  its  arrival.  The  Virginia  militia  were  gathered 
*in  season.  Cornwallis  had  chosen  a  favorable  spot  for  Wash- 
ington at  this  opportune  moment.  Providence  seemed  helping 
the  Americans  in  the  fortunate  combination  of  circumstances. 
When  Cornwallis  saw  his  danger  he  attempted  a  night  escape 
across  the  York  river,  but  a  fierce  storm  scattered  his  boats 
and  defeated  the  attempt.  Officers  and  soldiers  of  all  arms  of 
the  service  were  of  one  mind  and  worked  with  one  will.  All  saw 
that  the  wary  Cornwallis  was  cooped  in  a  place  of  his  own  selec- 


GEOEGE   WASHINGTON.  73 

tion,  and  only  some  strange  chance  of  war  could  save  him. 
Enthusiasm  such  as  our  poor  soldiers  had  never  known  fired 
their  hearts.  Every  man  felt  himself  freedom's  king.  They 
made  short  work  with  their  wily  foe,  whom  they  had  got  at  last 
at  a  great  disadvantage.  They  saw  Washington's  prudent  plan 
of  warfare  ripening  at  last  in  a  great  and  almost  bloodless  vic- 
tory. Cannon  from  every  quarter  played  upon  the  enemy's 
works  and  beat  them  down.  The  spade  and  pick  opened  a  safe 
way  to  a  close  encounter  with  the  caged  lion.  Seeing  his  certain 
fate,  he  surrendered,  and  in  due  time  marched  out  into  an  open 
field  and  laid  down  his  arms.  This  unequaled  victory  was  the 
great  ripe  fruit  of  all  their  sufferings.  It  enheartened  the  whole 
country  and  gave  it  name  and  credit  abroad.  The  whole  world 
was  watching  this  American  conflict.  If  the  new  nation  main- 
tained its  independence,  a  new  era  was  to  open  to  mankind.  The 
nineteenth  of  October,  1781,  which  brought  Cornwallis'  sur- 
render, made  sure  this  opening  future. 

Washington  visited  Mount  Vernon,  and  after  a  few  days 
repaired  to  Philadelphia  where  he  spent  the  winter  months  of 
1781  and  1782  with  Congress,  counseling  in  relation  to  both  the 
civil  and  military  affairs  of  the  country.  The  army's  suffering 
condition  bore  heavily  on  his  generous  heart. 

A  treaty  of  peace  between  Great  Britain  and  the  United 
States  was  signed  at  Paris,  January  21,  1783.  A  letter  from 
Lafayette  to  Congress,  bearing  the  intelligence,  reached  that  body 
March  23.  Sir  Guy  Carlton  informed  Washington  a  few  days 
after  that  he  was  ordered  to  proclaim  a  cessation  of  hostilities 
by  land  and  sea.  On  the  seventeenth  of  April  Washington 
made  a  similar  proclamation  to  his  army  by  order  of  Congress. 

On  the  eighteenth  of  the  following  October  Congress  dis- 
charged the  army,  many  of  whom  had  already  gone  to  their 
homes  on  furloughs. 

On  the  second  of  November  Washington  made  his  farewell 
address  to  the  soldiers  who  had  won  the  independence  of 
America. 

Thus  closed  the  great  Revolutionary  War,  the  most  important 
and  justifiable  of  any  that  the  world  had  then  known;  as  import- 


74  OUR    PRESIDENTS. 

ant,  perhaps,  in  securing  the  liberties  of  the  English  as  the 
American  people.  Now  that  it  is  so  far  in  the  past,  all  true 
men  can  unite  in  tributes  of  praise  and  honor  to  the  people  who 
so  nobly  sacrificed  for  their  convictions;  and  to  Washington, 
their  great  leader,  who,  under  Providence,  became  truly  the 
"Father  of  their  country/' and,  perhaps,  the  most  fortunate 
and  truly  great  man,  taken  all  in  all,  in  the  history  of  the 
world. 

LIFE  AT  MOUNT  VERNON. 

Washington  now  retired  to  Mount  Vernon  to  take  up  again 
those  rural  pursuits  so  congenial  to  his  retiring  and  domestic 
nature.  He  at  once  set  about  improving  his  estate,  embellish- 
ing his  home  and  its  surrounding  and  reviving  his  former  pleas- 
ures and  associations.  But  he  could  not  forget  the  country  he 
•had  helped  to  bring  into  being.  His  wide  acquaintance  with  the 
resources  of  the  country  and  its  great  possibilities,  and  his  inti- 
mate knowledge  of  the  people,  filled  his  mind  with  speculations 
on  the  settlement  of  the  wilderness,  the  means  of  land  and 
water  communication  with  the  fruitful  regions  which  he  saw 
must  soon  be  settled.  His  correspondence  and  his  conversation 
with  visitors  were  filled  with  these  thoughts,  which  reached  far 
away  frojm  Mount  Vernon. 

In  December,  1784,  he  was  invited  to  Annapolis,  by  the  Vir- 
ginia Assembly,  to  consider  with  other  public  spirited  gentle- 
men, the  best  ways  of  improving  inland  navigation.  The  meet- 
ing resulted  in  the  formation  of  two  navigation  companies,  for 
opening  the  navigation  of  the  Potomac  and  James  rivers,  under 
the  cooperation  of  the  assemblies  of  Virginia  and  Maryland. 
He  was  made  president  of  both.  It  was  a  part  of  the  plan  to 
open  a  communication  with  western  waters  and  facilitate  the 
movements  of  settlements  into  those  inviting  regions.  The 
Assembly  of  Virginia,  as  a  mark  of  respect  and  in  recognition  of 
his  great  services  given  without  remuneration  to  the  country, 
voted  one  hundred  and  fifty  shares  in  these  companies  as  a  gift 
to  General  Washington.  This  generous  proposal  puzzled  and 
troubled  him.  It  was  one  of  his  settled  purposes  not  to  accept 


GEOEGE   WASHINGTON.  75 

public  gifts,  because  of  their  tendency  to  swerve  the  private 
judgment  and  put  one  under  purchased  obligation  to  the  public. 
He  had  given  eight  years  of  the  best  of  his  life  to  fight  for  per- 
sonal freedom,  and  now  he  would  not  accept  a  gift  which  might 
in  any  way  act  as  a  bribe  upon  that  freedom;  and  yet  he  did  not 
desire  to  seem  not  to  appreciate  the  generous  sentiments  of  his 
fellow-citizens.  After  much  consideration  he  concluded  to 
accept  the  gift,  if  the  assembly  would  allow  him  to  hold  it  in 
trust  for  some  public  institution.  Later  in  life  he  applied  it  to 
public  education. 

It  is  the  testiniony  of  those  who  knew  much  of  him  that  his 
character  in  private  life  was  as  free  from  guile  and  blemish  as  in 
public  positions.  His  secretary,  Mr.  Lear,  after  two  years 
residence  in  his  family  on  very  intimate  relations,  says:  "  Gen- 
eral AVashington,  is,  I  believe,  almost  the  only  man  of  an  exalted 
character,  who  does  not  lose  some  part  of  his  respectability  by 
an  intimate  acquaintance.  I  have  never  found  a  single  thing 
that  could  lessen  my  respect  for  him.  A  complete  knowledge 
of  his  honesty,  uprightness  and  candor  in  all  his  private  trans- 
actions, has  sometimes  led  me  to  think  he  was  more  than  a  man." 

Bishop  AVhite  says  of  him:  "I  know  no  man  so  carefully 
guarded  against  the  discoursing  of  himself  or  of  his  acts,  or  of 
anything  that  pertained  to  him,  and  it  has  occasionally  occurred 
to  me  when  in  has  company,  that  if  a  stranger  to  his  person 
were  present,  he  would  never  have  known  from  anything  said 
by  him  that  he  was  conscious  of  having  distinguished  himself 
in  the  eye  of  the  world."  His  wife's  grandchild  who  lived  in  his 
family,  Miss  Custis,  has  written  of  him:  "He  spoke  little,  gen- 
erally ;  never  of  himself.  I  never  heard  him  relate  a  single  act 
of  his  life  during  the  war." 

He  was  social,  fond  of  company,  of  children  and  youth; 
loved  their  laughter  and  gaiety;  laughed  himself  sometimes 
immoderately;  yet  was  usually  calm  and  benignant.  His  friend- 
ships were  very  strong.  Many  of  his  companions  in  arms 
became  very  dear  to  him;  General  Greene,  Lafayette  and  Ham- 
ilton in  particular.  To  his  early  friendships  he  was  always 
steadfast.  The  little  excellencies  of  spirit  and  conduct,  like  the 


76  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

little  touches  of  the  painter's  brush,  gave  the  last  and  delicate 
finish  to  the  solid  and  grand  character  which  made  him  the 
wonderful  man  he  was. 

THE   CONFEDERATION  AND  THE  CONSTITUTION. 

When  Washington  returned  from  the  army  to  Mount  Vernon, 
he  went  to  spend  the  rest  of  his  life  in  retirement.  But  the 
troubles  of  the  country  he  had  called  into  being  would  not  let 
him  rest.  The  debts  incurred  in  the  war;  the  settlement  of 
claims  and  differences:  the  need  of  money  that  could  not  be  fur- 
nished, of  laws  that  in  many  places  would  not  be  accepted,  of 
authority  with  force  behind  it;  the  general  distraction,  and  in 
some  places  actual  rebellion,  convinced  him  that  the  confedera- 
tion of  the  states  under  which  the  war  had  been  fought  out,  was 
but  a  rope  of  sand.  He  saw,  and  urged  in  letters  and  in  private 
conversation,  the  need  of  a  strong  central  government,  a  league 
of  all  the  people  which  should  be  a  power  over  the  states,  which 
should  make  a  nation  in  which  the  states  should  exist  as  local 
bodies.  With  these  thoughts  in  his  mind,  he  read  much  of  the 
ancient  republics  and  of  those  nations  which  had  existed  with- 
out kings.  He  made  known  his  views  all  over  the  Union  in 
correspondence  with  the  leading  minds.  He  wrote:  "I  have 
ever  been  a  friend  to  adequate  powers  in  Congress,  without 
which  it  is  evident  to  me  we  shall  never  establish  a  national 
character,  or  be  considered  as  on  a  respectable  footing  by  the 
powers  of  Europe.  We  are  either  a  united  people  under  one 
head  for  federal  purposes,  or  we  are  thirteen  independent  sov- 
ereignties eternally  counteracting  each  other.  If  the  former, 
what  ever  such  a  majority  of  the  states  as  the  constitution 
points  out  conceives  to  be  for  the  benefit  of  the  whole,  should, 
in  my  humble  opinion,  be  submitted  to  by  the  minority.  /  can 
see  no  evil  greater  than  disunion.'"  Again  he  writes:  "I  do 
not  conceive  we  can  exist  long  as  a  nation  without  lodging 
somewhere  a  power  which  will  pervade  the  whole  Union  in  as 
energetic  a  manner  as  the  authority  of  che  state  governments 
extends  over  the  several  states.  To  bo  foarful  of  investing  Con- 
gress, constituted  as  that  body  is,  with  ample  authorities  for 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON.  77 

national  purposes,  appears  to  me  the  very  climax  of  popular 
absurdity  and  madness." 

The  people  were  drifting  into  anarchy.  The  states  were  sel- 
fish and  jealous.  Washington  felt  that  they  were  rejecting  his 
counsel,  solemnly  given  in  his  farewell  address  to  the  soldiers 
and  people.  He  was  alarmed  and  troubled  and  asked,  "What, 
then,  is  to  be  done?  Things  cannot  go  on  in  this  strain  forever." 
There  are  many  letters  extant,  written  about  this  time,  full  of 
the  sorrow  of  his  great  heart  and  the  fear  that  the  war  had  been 
in  vain.  He  did  not  dream  it,  though  these  letters,  and  a  plan 
of  federate  organization  started  at  Mount  Vernon  by  the  com- 
missioners appointed  by  the  assemblies  of  Maryland  and  Vir- 
ginia, the  year  before,  had  given  hints  of  the  remedy  needed 
for  the  prevailing  disasters  and  dangers.  These  great  matters 
were  being  considered  in  the  state  assemblies  and  resulted  in  a 
proposition  for  a  convention  of  delegates  from  all  the  states,  to 
meet  in  Philadelphia,  for  the  purpose  of  revising  and  correcting 
the  federal  system;  the  action  of  the  convention  to  be  reported 
to  congress  and  the  state  legislatures  for  their  approval. 

Washington  was  put  at  the  head  of  the  Virginia  delegation. 
The  convention  was  appointed  for  the  second  Monday  in  May, 
1786;  but  enough  delegates  to  form  a  quorum  did  not  get 
there  till  the  twenty-fifth.  Washington  was  unanimously 
elected  president  of  the  convention.  The  convention  con- 
tinued in  session  four  months.  It  was  a  great  deliberative 
body.  It  came  together  thoroughly  alarmed  for  the  safety  of 
the  new  country.  It  worked  in  earnest  and  with  a  will,  and 
produced  the  great  constitution  under  which  the  United  States 
have  become  a  great  country  and  lived  a  hundred  years — the 
greatest  compend  of  deliberative  wisdom,  perhaps,  which  has 
been  produced  in  this  world. 

The  constitution  was  sent  to  Congress,  and  by  that  body  to  the 
state  legislatures,  which  appointed  state  conventions  to  consider 
it.  It  must  be  accepted  by  nine  before  it  became  the  funda- 
mental law  of  the  land.  On  the  thirteenth  of  September,  1788, 
Congress,  the  constitution  having  been  ratified  by  a  sufficient 
number  of  states,  appointed  the  first  Wednesday  in  January, 


78  CUE   PRESIDENTS. 

1789,  for  the  people  of  the  United  States  to  choose  electors  of  a 
president,  and  the  first  Wednesday  in  February  for  the  electors 
to  meet  and  make  a  choice.  The  meeting  of  the  government 
was  to  be  on  the  first  Wednesday  in  March  following  in  New 
York  city. 

Concerning  it,  Washington  wrote  to  a  friend:  "We  may,  with 
a  kind  of  pious  and  grateful  exultation,  trace  the  finger  of 
Providence  through  those  dark  and  mysterious  events  which 
first  induced  the  states  to  appoint  a  general  convention,  and 
then  led  them,  one  after  another,  by  such  steps  as  were  best  cal- 
culated to  effect  'the  object,  into  the  adoption  of  the  system 
recommended  by  the  general  convention  ;  thereby,  in  all  human 
probability,  laying  a  lasting  foundation  for  tranquility  and  hap- 
piness, when  we  had  too  much  reason  to  fear  that  confusion  and 
misery  were  coming  rapidly  upon  us." 

WASHINGTON   ELECTED    PRESIDENT. 

As  the  time  for  the  meeting  of  the  electors  drew  nigh  Wash- 
ington's personal  friends  became  satisfied  that  he  would  be 
elected  the  first  president  of  the  United  States,  and  so  informed 
him  in  their  letters.  It  was  painful  to  him  to  think  of  re-enter- 
ing public  life.  He  loved  agricultural  pursuits,  and  craved  a 
peaceful  afternoon  of  life  on  his  estate.  His  letters  at  this  time 
are  full  of  anxiety  and  fear,  lest  he  should  be  elected.  He 
dreaded  the  weight  of  care  attending  such  an  untried  position, 
and  feared  the  loss  of  his  good  reputation.  When  he  was 
elected  commander-in-chief  he  thought  his  reputation  would 
decline  from  that  day ;  so  now  he  feared  his  evil  day  would 
begin  with  this  new  position. 

In  a  letter  to  Lafayette,  after  expressing  his  extreme  reluc- 
tance in  accepting  the  place  and  his  diffidence  in  his  own 
capacity  to  fill  it  properly,  he  says:  "If  I  know  my  own  heart, 
nothing  short  of  a  coTiviction  of  duty  will  induce  me  again  to 
take  an  active  part  in  public  affairs ;  and  in  that  case,  if  I  can 
form  a  plan  for  my  own  conduct,  my  endeavors  shall  be  unre- 
mittingly exerted,  even  at  the  hazard  of  my  former  fame  and 
present  popularity,  to  extricate  my  country  from  the  embarrass- 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON.  79 

ments  in  which  it  is  entangled  through  want  of  credit ;  and  to 
establish  a  general  system  of  policy  which,  if  pursued,  will 
ensure  permanent  felicity  to  the  commonwealth.  I  think  I  see 
a  path  clear  and  direct  as  a  ray  of  light  which  leads  to  the 
attainment  of  that  object.  Nothing  but  harmony,  honesty, 
industry  and  frugality  are  necessary  to  make  us  a  great  and 
happy  people.  Happily  the  present  posture  of  affairs  and  the 
prevailing  disposition  of  my  countrymen,  promise  to  cooperate 
in  establishing  those  four  great  essential  pillars  of  public 
felicity." 

His  fruitful  mind  at  once  formed  plans  and  provided  ways 
to  national  prosperity. 

In  due  time  he  was  elected;  and  on  the  sixteenth  of  April, 
1789,  started  for  New  York  to  assume  his  high  office.  At  once 
his  course  began  to  be  an  ovation.  Meetings,  speeches,  masses 
of  the  people,  music,  cannon,  bells,  triumphal  arches,  soldiers, 
citizens,  women,  girls,  children,  met  him  everywhere,  in  every 
possible  expression  of  gratitude,  honor  and  joy.  Over  the 
places  where  he  had  fought  and  toiled  and  suffered,  he  now  went 
amid  the  huzzas  and  shouts  of  the  whole  population.  Each 
place  seemed  to  have  some  new  device  to  express  the  people's 
love  and  joy.  It  was  one  long  way  of  triumphal  popular  joy, 
from  Mount  Vernon  to  New  York,  such  as  king  never  knew  and 
no  other  human  being  ever  experienced.  It  humbled,  subdued, 
saddened,  overcame  him.  He  felt  himself  unworthy  of  it, 
feared  it  could  not  last,  dreaded  the  danger  of  mistake  which 
might  break  the  spell  of  this  tumultuous  congratulation,  and 
bring  harm  to  his  now  happy  country. 

After  he  had  reached  New  York,  and  all  was  ready  for  his 
inauguration  in  the  presence  of  a  vast  multitude  of  people, 
when  he  moved  forward  to  take  the  oath  of  office,  he  was  so 
overcome  as  to  be  unable  to  stand,  and  stepped  back  to  a  chair 
and  sat  down  for  a  few  moments  to  recover  strength.  A  breath- 
less silence  prevailed.  Not  a  word  was  spoken.  All  seemed  to 
know  that  the  great  bosom  was  overshaken  with  inward  tumult. 
After  a  few  moments  he  rose  and  went  forward.  The  secretary 
of  the  senate  held  up  the  bible  and  AVashington  laid  his  hand 


80  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

upon  it.  The  chancellor  of  New  York  read  the  oath  of  office 
to  him;  he  responded:  "I  swear — so  help  me  God,"  bowed  rev- 
erently and  kissed  the  bible.  The  chancellor  then  stepped  for- 
ward, waved  his  hand  and  exclaimed:  "Long  live  George  Wash- 
ington, President  of  the  United  States!"  At  this  moment  a 
flag  swung  from  the  cupola,  the  bells  in  all  the  city  sent  out 
their  clangor,  and  the  cannon  in  all  the  forts  and  ships  pealed 
their  thunderous  joy  while  the  people  joined  in  long  and 
rapturous  shouts. 

Bowing  to  the  people,  he  went  into  the  senate  chamber  and 
delivered  his  inaugural  address.  After  this  he,  with  the  whole 
assembly,  went  on  foot  to  St.  Paul's  church,  where  prayers  were 
read  by  Bishop  Prevost,  of  the  Episcopal  church. 

Through  it  all  he  was  deeply  stirred  and  inexpressibly 
anxious  lest  he  might  fail  to  do  what  was  expected  of  him,  and 
turn  this  whirlwind  of  praise  into  a  storm  of  reproach.  How 
little  did  he  foresee  that  his  future  course  was  to  be  as  fortunate 
as  his  past,  and  that  this  beginning  of  praise  was  to  go  on 
increasing  with  the  ages. 

WASHINGTON'S  ADMINISTRATION. 

Nothing  could  be  conceived  more  difficult  than  Washington's 
new  position.  He  had  been  made  president  of  a  government 
yet  to  be  organized  and  that  government  new  in  the  world, 
having  not  even  an  ideal  in  any  one's  mind.  What  sort  of  a 
court  should  it  have?  What  formalities  and  dignities  should  it 
assume?  How  near  the  people  and  how  far  away  should  the 
president  be?  Should  he  be  approached  only  through  a  line  of 
officials  as  were  the  rulers  of  Europe,  or  should  he  be  open  as 
any  citizen  to  the  people?  After  his  inauguration  everybody 
wanted  to  see  him  and  counsel  him.  The  first  week's  experience 
taught  him  that  his  privacy  must  be  guarded  in  some  way  or  he 
could  do  no  business.  Then  what  about  the  social  life  of  this 
republican  court?  There  was  no  model  for  it  in  the  world. 
Franklin,  Adams  and  Jefferson  had  represented  the  colonies  at 
foreign  courts,  but  they  could  not  outline  a  republican  court. 
All  Washington's  intimate  friends  had  suggestions.  Adams 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON.  81 

and  Hamilton  inclined  to  much  imitation  of  royalty  to  secure 
thfc  respect  of  foreign  courts  and  people;  as  well  as  our  own 
people  who  had  always  profoundly  respected  the  English  royalty 
and  its  form  of  government.  Others  leaned  to  almost  no 
formalities. 

The  constitution  provided  for  the  different  departments  of 
the  government;  these  must  be  provided  with  official  heads  and 
so  set  to  work  as  not  to  hinder  each  other;  and  all  must  work  in 
harmony. 

A  currency  must  be  provided  for  the  business  of  the  country; 
the  debts  of  the  war  must  be  paid,  and  there  was  nothing  to  pay 
them  with;  domestic  and  foreign  credit  must  be  secured;  a 
system  of  taxation  provided;  differences  between  the  states 
settled ;  international  intercourse  provided  for;  and  postal, 
judicial,  military  and  naval  affairs  arranged.  Indeed,  there  was 
no  end  to  the  new  things  to  be  done.  It  is  wonderfully  interest- 
ing to  read  of  the  details  of  AVashington's  new  work  and  of  the 
skill  and  wisdom  with  which  he  put  together  the  scattered 
materials  for  this  new  government.  There  seemed  to  be  every 
possible  conflict  of  opinion  to  settle,  and  everything  to  be  made 
anew  from  raw  materials,  to  set  up  this  wonderful  machine  —  a 
republican  government.  But  Washington  led  in  this  new  and 
difficult  work  with  a  marvelous  capacity  for  invention  and 
adjustment. 

People  now,  who  only  hear  Washington's  praises,  can  scarcely 
comprehend  his  trials.  His  cabinet  was  divided,  and  at  length 
so  divided  as  to  break  up.  Thomas  Jefferson,  his  secretary  of 
state,  had  been  much  in  France  and  become  strongly  interested 
in  the  revolution  going  on  there.  He  sympathized  with  the 
radical  element  in  opposition  to  the  throne  and  its  adherents. 
He  favored  the  Jacobin  clubs  and  excused  the  bloody  excesses  of 
the  reign  of  terror,  and  favored  the  formation  of  similar  societies 
in  America.  He,  therefore,  favored  the  most  popular  and  radical 
measures  in  the  administration  of  our  government  and  opposed 
the  more  conservative  which  aimed  at  solidity  and  stability. 
Alexander  Hamilton,  his  secretary  of  the  treasury,  on  the  con- 
trary, feared  the  fury  and  passion  of  the  French  mobs,  as  the 
6 


82  OUR  PRESIDENTS. 

excited  masses  looked  to  him,  and  favored  a  government  in 
America  which  should  avoid  all  popular  extremes,  and  be  well 
ballasted  with  the  weight  of  the  well-tried  and  conservative  prin- 
ciples of  the  British  constitution.  The  throne  and  all  its 
appendages,  of  course,  were  set  aside  by  our  constitution,  and  he 
hated  them  as  did  the  American  people,  but  there  remained  the 
essential  form  of  the  English  government  in  our  executive, 
legislative  and  judiciary  departments  which  he  wished  to  carry 
into  harmonious  and  stable  operation. 

Washington  was  devoted  to  both  of  these  men,  and  both 
were  devoted  to  him.  They  each  had  a  wide  following  in  the 
country,  and  became  the  head  of  a  party.  Washington  was  non- 
partisan  and  sought  to  administer  the  government  in  the  inter- 
est of  the  whole  country,  and  in  fidelity  to  the  principles  of  the 
American  revolution  which  had  been  incorporated  in  the  consti- 
tution. In  doing  this  he  was  often  assailed  by  both  parties,  and 
bitterly  assailed  by  the  French  party,  who  were  coming  more 
and  more  to  hate  everything  English  and  love  everything 
French. 

The  fact  that  the  French  had  helped  us  in  the  revolution 
•won  the  popular  heart  of  America,  which  did  not  stop  to  weigh 
well  the  passion  and  recklessness  and  want  of  wisdom  and  prin- 
ciple which  led  on  the  French  revolution.  Indeed  many 
thought  the  French  revolution  was  the  American  revolution 
over  again,  whereas  there  was  but  little  similarity  between  them. 
And  yet  the  French  revolution  shook  the  new  American  gov- 
ernment to  its  center,  and  had  it  not  been  for  the  strong  hand  at 
the  helm  it  would  have  gone  to  pieces  and  been  as  short-lived  and 
disastrous  as  was  the  French  republic.  A  rebellion  was  started 
in  western  Pennsylvania.  "The  factious  and  turbulent  opposi- 
tion to  the  collection  of  duties  on  spirituous  liquors,"  as  Wash- 
ington called  it,  was  the  occasion  of  this  outbreak,  but  it  was 
really  promoted  by  the  French  sympathies  and  the  "democrat 
clubs,"  in  imitation  of  the  "Jacobin  clubs"  which  were  formed 
all  over  the  country.  These  clubs  gave  Washington  immense 
trouble,  for  they  promoted  the  dissenting,  querulous,  rebellious 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON.  83 

spirit  against  his  administration  and  the  unmeasured  abuse  that 
was  heaped  upon  him  by  their  papers  and  public  speakers. 

The  French  republic  soon  got  itself  into  a  war  with  England. 
Then  it  demanded  that  the  United  States  should  join  it  in  that 
war,  because  France  had  helped  the  colonies  to  get  their  liber- 
ties. The  French  sympathizers,  who  had  already  done  so  much 
to  paralyze  Washington's  government  and  abuse  him,  now 
sought  to  revive  the  old  hatred  of  England  and  force  America 
to  join  France  in  the  bloody  conflict.  It  required  all  Washing- 
ton's sagacity  and  moderation  to  avoid  this  wreck  of  his  new 
nation,  and  when  he  secured  a  treaty  of  peace  and  intercourse  with 
England  through  Mr.  Jay,  the  very  best  that  could  be  got  for  this 
country,  and  which  resulted  in  immense  and  permanent  benefit, 
he  was  more  violently  abused  than  ever  before,  even  the  House 
of  Eepresentatives  unconstitutionally  and  insultingly  demanding 
his  reasons  for  signing  the  treaty. 

There  was  from  the  beginning  much  difference  between  the 
northern  and  southern  states  in  their  business  and  social  life. 
It  was  with  difficulty  that  this  difference  could  be  adjusted  in 
the  constitution.  Slavery  was  dominant  in  the  south,  and  grew 
more  so.  It  waned  in  the  north,  and  soon  departed.  The  south 
inclined  to  looser  and  less  scrupulous  exactness  in  morals  and 
social  life,  and  to  less  devotion  to  business.  The  north  was 
exacting,  organizing,  thrifty  and  more  devoted  to  constituted 
forms  and  the  instituted  customs  of  society,  and  hence  moved 
more  in  masses,  more  by  the  rules  of  combination  and  law. 

This  general  difference  soon  developed  a  prerailing  sympathy 
with  Jefferson  and  his  free  views  in  the  south,  while  in  the 
north  the  more  conservative  views  of  Hamilton,  who  was  anx- 
ious that  the  government  should  be  strong  and  united — a  firm 
nationality — a  power  to  be  feared  and  honored,  prevailed.  In 
the  south  this  free  spirit  which  magnified  the  individual  and 
the  state  at  the  expense  of  the  nation  soon  showed  itself  in 
individuals  and  also  in  states,  and  developed  a  disloyal  and  arro- 
gant notion  of  individual  and  state  rights.  The  nation  waa 
never  so  much  prized  in  the  south  as  in  the  north,  simply 
because  the  individual  and  the  state  were  more  prized.  In  the 


84  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

south  individual  and  state  rights  were  supposed  to  be  dominant 
in  the  American  idea.  In  the  north  the  nation  and  its  rights 
were  supposed  to  be  dominant  in  the  American  idea.  In  the 
north  Hamilton's  teachings  have  prevailed ;  in  the  south,  Jeff- 
erson's. At  last,  after  more  than  a  hundred  years  of  jar  and 
conflict,  the  north  and  south  are  likely  to  come  to  a  better 
understanding  and  thoroughly  respect  the  individual  and  at  the 
same  time  magnify  the  nation. 

In  the  second  administration  of  "Washington  the  spirit  of 
this  difference  was  rampant,  fanned  into  a  flame  by  French 
zealots  and  radicals  and  made  more  demonstrative  by  hatred  of 
British  tyranny,  which  it  was  restrained  by  Washington's  strong 
and  wise  hand  from  fighting.  Grandly  now  does  Washington's 
commanding  figure  rise  up  against  the  black  and  fierce  cloud 
of  those  early  and  troublous  times. 

When  Washington  made  his  final  address  to  Congress, 
December  5,  1796,  the  Senate  heartily  approved  it ;  but  in  the 
House  there  was  dissension.  Mr.  Giles,  of  Virginia,  made  a 
strong  speech  against  approval,  and  when  the  vote  came  to  be 
taken  twelve  names  were  recorded  against  it  and  stand  there 
yet,  among  them  the  name  of  Andrew  Jackson,  then  a  young 
man  of  twenty-nine  years  of  age,  just  admitted  from  the  new 
state  of  Tennessee. 

WASHINGTON'S  DEATH. 

At  the  close  of  his  second  term  as  president,  March  3,  1797, 
Washington  repaired  to  Mount  Vernon,  grateful  for  his  release 
from  public  duty.  John  Adams  was  his  successor,  who  very 
soon  found  himself  threatened  with  a  war  with  the  French 
republic,  and  he  looked  at  once  to  Washington  to  lead  it,  should 
it  be  forced  upon  the  country.  He  had  had  but  a  few  month's 
peace  when  this  war  cloud  rose  in  the  east.  He  at  once 
set  about  the  plans  for  organizing  an  army,  but  before  the  set- 
tlement of  the  difficulties  he  died  from  the  effects  of  a  severe 
cold,  on  the  night  of  the  fourteenth  of  December,  1799,  in  the 
sixty-eighth  year  of  his  age. 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON  85 

Thus  closed  unexpectedly  the  earthly  life  of  one  of  the  great- 
est and  best  of  men,  who,  while  he  was  subject  to  all  human 
frailties,  was  not  brilliant  or  specially  endowed  with  any  marked 
power  above  many,  was  yet  one  of  the  greatest  men  that  has  ever 
lived  in  the  soundness  of  his  judgment,  strength  of  his  fortitude, 
self-control,  patience  and  persistence  under  difficulties,  and  in 
the  power  to  combine  and  control  great  affairs  and  great  bodies 
of  men  and  bear  them  on  to  a  triumphant  issue  of  great  and 
good  purposes.  Jefferson  said  of  him:  "  His  integrity  was  most 
pure;  his  justice  the  most  inflexible  I  have  ever  known, — no 
motives  of  interest  or  consanguinity,  of  friendship  or  hatred, 
being  able  to  bias  his  decision.  He  was  in  every  sense  of  the 
word,  a  wise,  a  good  and  a  great  man." 

Adams,  in  his  inaugural  address,  spoke  of  him  as  one  "  who 
by  a  long  course  of  great  actions,  regulated  by  prudence,  justice, 
temperance  and  fortitude,  had  merited  the  gratitude  of  his  fellow 
citizens,  commanded  the  highest  praises  of  foreign  nations  and 
secured  immortal  glory  with  posterity." 


f  HE  URAVE  OF  HEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

The  sacred  enclosure  which  holds  the  dust  of  George  Wash- 
ington is  at  Mount  Vernon,  near  the  mansion  in  which  he  lived 
and  died,  and  which  has  now  become  a  shrine  visited,  probably, 
by  more  people  than  the  resting  place  of  any  other  mortal  man. 
It  is  on  the  west  bank  of  the  Potomac  river,  seventeen  miles 
below  Washington.  The  mansion  and  tomb  are  some  two 
hundred  feet  above  the  river  and  afford  a  fine  outlook  over 
water  and  land. 

The  original  Washington  estate  was  eight  thousand  acres. 
In  1856  the  state  of  Virginia  passed  an  act  authorizing  the  pur- 
chase of  Mount  Vernon  by  the  ladies  of  the  Mount  Vernon 
Association.  The  ladies  purchased  two  hundred  acres,  for  which 
they  paid  two  hundred  thousand  dollars,  since  which  great 
improvements  for  preserving  and  beautifying  the  place  have 


86  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

been  made.  The  worn  and  decayed  parts  of  the  buildings  have 
been  renewed ;  the  grounds  are  being  made  more  beautiful 
every  year. 

Mr.  Lossing  has  dedicated  his  book  entitled  "The  Home  of 
Washington": 

TO  HIS 

PATRIOTIC  COUNTRYWOMEN, 
BY    WHOSE   EFFORTS 

THE  HOME  AND  TOMB  OF  WASHINGTON 

HAVE   BEEN 
RESCUED  FROM  DECAY. 

The  tomb  of  Washington  is  in  a  quiet,  secluded  place,  but  a 
short  distance  from  the  mansion.  It  is  made  of  brick  according 
to  his  will,  though  it  was  not  made  till  thirty-eight  years  after 
his  death.  Till  then  his  body  rested  in  the  old  tomb.  The 
new  tomb  is  in  a  small  ravine  coming  down  from  a  well-wooded 
hillside.  The  place  abounds  with  sweet-briar,  trailing  arbutus 
and  other  flowers. 

The  front  of  the  tomb  is  plain,  with  wide,  arching  gate- 
way and  double  iron  gates,  above  which,  upon  a  plain  marble 
slab,  is  this  inscription: 


WITHIN  THIS  ENCLOSURE 

BEST  THE  REMAINS  OF 

< 

< 
j 


The  ante-room  in  which  are  the  sarcaphagi,  which  hold  the 
remains  of  George  and  Martha  Washington,  is  about  twelve  feet 
square.  Behind  this  room  is  the  vault  in  which  repose  the 
remains  of  about  thirty  members  of  the  family.  For  a  time, 
through  fear  of  disturbance,  the  sarcophagi  were  kept  in  the 
vault;  but  on  the  seventh  of  October,  1837,  they  were  placed 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON. 


87 


where  they  now  rest,  in  the  ante-room,  the  vault  closed  and 
locked  and  the  key  thrown  into  the  river. 

The  right-hand  sarcaphagtis,  as  seen  from  the  gate,  holds  the 
remains  of  the  "Father  of  his  Country";  the  one  on  the  left, 
those  of  his  wife. 

On  a  tablet  over  the  door  of  the  tomb,  are  these  words  of  the 
Great  Teacher  : 


"I  am  the  resurrection  and  the  life. 

He  that  believeth  in  me, 
though  he  were  dead,  yet  shall  he  live." 


The  sarcophagus  of  Mrs.  Washington  is  without  ornament 
or  symbol;  and  has  on  it  these  words  : 

ii  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  ^ 

-  - 


CONSORT  OF  WASHINGTON, 
I  DIED  MAY  Slsr,  1801;  AGED  71  YEARS.    [ 


The  sarcophagus  of  Washington  is  ornamented  with  the 
United  States  coat  of  arms  upon  a  draped  flag. 
It  has  this  one  word  on  it  : 


Near  the  entrance  to  the  vault  are  four  white  marble  monu 
ments  with  inscriptions  commemorating  the  lives  and  deaths  oi 
the  members  of  the  family  whose  forms  rest  there. 

Everything  is  being  done,  and  will  continue  to  be  done,  to 
make  Mount  Vernon  and  its  sacred  tomb  ojie  of  the  most 
marked  and  hallowed  mausoleums  in  the  world.  Its  great 
sleeper  there  is  a  mighty  magnet  drawing  all  the  world  rever- 
ently to  his  resting  place. 


88 


OUR   PRESIDENTS. 


In  1833,  Dr.  Andrew  Eeed,  an  English  philanthropist,  wrote 
at  the  grave  of  Washington,  this  tribute  to  his  memory,  and 
left  it  in  the  family  : 

WASHINGTON, 
The  Brave,  The  Wise,  The  Good  ; 

WASHINGTON, 
Supreme  in  War,  in  Council  and  in  Peace  ; 

WASHINGTON, 

Valiant  Discreet  Confident 

without  without  without 

Ambition  ;  Fear  ;  Presumption  ; 

WASHINGTON, 
In  Disaster,  Calm  ;  in  Success,  Moderate  ;  in  All,  Himself  ; 

WASHINGTON, 

The  Hero,  the  Patriot,  the  Christian  ; 
The  Father  of  Nations,  the  Friend  of  Mankind  ; 

who 
When  he  had  Won  all,  Renounced  all 

and  sought 
In  the  Bosom  of  his  Family  and  Nature, 

Retirement, 

And  in  the  Hope  of  Religion, 
Immortality. 


CHAPTER  HI. 


JOHN  ADAMS. 

SECOND  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 
GENEALOGY. 

flOHN  ADAMS  is  a  representative  name  in  the  annals  of 
'£i  New  England.  It  stands  for  the  average  man  —  for 
the  hardy,  strong  middle  class,  which  made  up  the 
great  body  of  the  early  New  England  society.  It  belonged 
to  a  family  that  for  several  generations  escaped  poverty 
but  did  not  attain  riches ;  who  were  of  strong  sense,  but 
did  not  become  great ;  who  were  virtuous,  but  not  marked 
with  ability  for  leadership  and  supremacy.  The  ancestors  of 
John  Adams,  the  second  president,  were  men  of  plain  common 
sense,  with  virtue  which  often  rose  into  rugged  strength.  They 
were  of  that  stock  which  makes  up  the  anatomy  and  muscle  of 
strong  society.  Away  back  from  the  beginning  of  the  colony; 
they  were  hard-working,  good-sensed,  solid-charactered  men, 
who  added  force  and  stability  to  the  new  colony.  As  they 
approached  his  time  they  rose  in  their  community;  more  of  them 
sought  a  liberal  education;  more  of  them  entered  the  ministry 
and  served  in  public  trusts;  more  of  them  gave  evidence  of  the 
character-developing  effects  of  the  Puritan  style  of  thought  and 
life.  His  father's  oldest  brother,  Joseph,  was  a  Harvard  scholar, 
and  a  minister  for  more  than  sixty  years,  in  Newington,  New 
Hampshire.  His  father  intended  that  he  should  follow  his 
uncle's  example.  Men  of  the  Adams  stamp  in  the  Massachu- 
setts colony  believed  in  education  and  religion.  They  founded 

89 


90  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

schools  and  colleges  and  supported  them.  They  believed  in  an 
educated  ministry  and  public  service.  Their  state  of  society  was 
largely  the  product  of  university  culture  in  England.  There 
were  not  many  of  them  university  men,  but  they  read  the  books 
and  were  nourished  by  the  thought  of  university  scholars. 

The  father  of  John  Adams  was  a  small  farmer,  as  the  most 
of  his  ancestors  had  been.  He  was  a  deacon  of  the  church, 
while  many  of  his  name  had  served  their  towns  as  selectmen  and 
recorders,  indicating  the  range  of  their  place  in  society. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  in  that  part  of  Brain- 
tree,  Massachusetts,  now  called  Quincy,  some  ten  miles  south- 
west of  Boston,  October  30,  1735.  Little  is  known  of  his  boy- 
hood, more  than  that  he  worked  on  his  father's  farm,  fished, 
hunted,  played  and  went  to  school  as  other  country  boys  of  his 
time  did,  till  he  neared  his  sixteenth  year.  About  this  time  his 
father  told  him  his  serious  and  ambitious  intentions  concerning 
him.  The  boy  did  not  relish  the  thought  of  exchanging  the 
free  and  cheery  life  of  the  farm,  with  the  woods  and  brooks  and 
not-far-off  ocean,  for  the  confinement  and  rigid  rules  and  close 
study  of  the  college,  and  told  his  father  that  he  wanted  to  be  a 
farmer.  "Well,  then,"  his  father  said,  in  substance;  "if  you 
want  to  be  a  farmer  it  is  time  you  were  at  it  in  earnest.  It  will 
take  all  your  time  from  now  till  you  are  twenty-one  to  learn  it 
well.  So  you  can  give  up  play  and  go  to  work."  John  went  to 
the  field  and  plied  the  heavy  ii**  Cements  in  thoughtful  medita- 
tion till  weariness  was  in  aii  nis  muscles.  A  little  steady  toil,  a 
little  sacrifice  of  pleasure  to  a  purpose  in  his  doing,  a  little 
serious  thoughtfulness  of  life  and  its  use  and  outcome,  led  him 
to  conclude  that  he  would  like  to  try  his  father's  plan  for  him, 
at  least  so  far  as  a  college  course  of  study  was  concerned.  His 
father  was  pleased,  and  put  him  at  once  upon  his  preparatory 
studies.  At  the  age  of  sixteen  he  entered  Harvard  and  grad- 
uated when  he  was  twenty,  esteemed  for  his  integrity,  energy 
and  ability.  He  was  one  of  a  class  of  twenty-four,  several  of 
whom  became  distinguished  men,  but  none  so  much  so  as  he. 
Though  among  his  farm-boy  associates  no  one  dreamed  of  his 
superior  capacities,  he  had  not  got  through  his  college  course 


JOHN  ADAMS.  91 

before  he  was  recognized  as  one  of  the  three  strongest  scholars 
in  his  class;  and  the  two  who  were  classed  with  him  became 
noted  men,  one  of  them  a  president  of  the  college,  the  other  a 
distinguished  divine.  The  sharpening  and  developing  effect  of 
the  college  study  soon  began  to  show  the  quality  and  strength  of 
the  coming  man. 

JOHN"  ADAMS  A  TEACHER. 

Now  that  he  was  through  college  by  his  father's  aid,  he  must 
at  once  do  something  for  his  own  support.  He  soon  got  a  posi- 
tion as  teacher  in  a  grammar  school  in  Worcester,  for  such 
meager  pay  as  to  barely  meet  his  wants.  But  he  made  it  help 
him  in  other  ways.  The  minds  of  his  school  children  became 
studies.  The  government  of  his  school  taught  him  law,  juris- 
prudence, executive  order.  He  had  a  miniature  republic  before 
him,  with  each  individual's  rights  claiming  place  in  connection 
with  the  general  good,  each  limiting  the  other.  The  subject  of 
government  had  at  this  time  become  a  great  study  in  all  the 
colonies.  Everybody  was  a  politician.  All  theories  of  govern- 
ment were  studied  and  discussed.  Every  town  was  a  sort  of 
public  lyceum  for  the  study  and  discussion  of  government. 
Many  were  reading  history  to  find  philosophy  and  example  to 
help  them  to  true  opinions  and  right  conclusions.  People  can 
now  scarcely  realize  the  interest  then  felt  in  all  that  pertained 
to  social  order  and  well  being.  They  were  a  new  people  on  a 
new  continent,  crystalizing  into  a  new  order  of  society;  what 
was  it  likely  to  be  or  to  attain?  Young  Adams  was  studying 
diese  problems  while  he  was  teaching  the  Worcester  children 
the  rudiments  of  an  education.  From  a  letter  written  to  his 
kinsman,  Nathan  Webb,  and  published  by  Mr.  Webb's  son  fifty 
years  after,  take  the  following  as  a  sample  of  the  young  man's 
thinking  at  this  time:  "  Soon  after  the  reformation  a  few  people 
came  over  into  this  new  world  for  conscience's  sake.  Perhaps 
this  apparently  trivial  incident  may  transfer  the  great  seat  of 
empire  into  America.  It  looks  like  it  to  me;  for  if  we  can 
remove  the  turbulent  Gallicks,  our  people,  according  to  the 
exact  computations,  will  in  another  century  become  more 


92  OUE   PRESIDENTS. 

numerous  than  England  itself.  Should  this  be  the  case,  since 
we  have,  I  may  say,  all  the  naval  stores  of  the  nation  in  pur 
hands,  it  will  be  easy  to  obtain  the  mastery  of  the  seas,  and  then 
the  united  force  of  all  Europe  will  not  be  able  to  subdue  us. 
The  only  way  to  keep  us  from  setting  up  for  ourselves  is  to  dis- 
unite us.  Divide  et  impera.  Keep  us  in  distinct  colonies,  and 
then  some  great  men  in  each  colony,  desiring  the  monarchy  of 
the  whole,  they  will  destroy  each  other's  influence  and  keep  the 
country  in  equilibria"  This  was  written  just  before  he  was 
twenty  years  of  age.  This  was  twenty  years  before  the  revo- 
lution; and  yet  this  youth  was  computing  the  growth  and 
resources  of  America,  the  probable  time  before  it  would  hold 
the  balance  of  power  against  all  Europe;  the  importance  of  the 
colonies  being  united,  and,  if  united,  the  certainty  that  they 
would  by  and  by  set  up  for  themselves.  Here  was  the  great 
statesman  beginning  to  develop  the  philosophy  of  his  states- 
manship, while  yet  a  youth  teaching  the  children  of  a  country 
village  for  his  daily  bread.  How  little  he  foresaw  the  outcome 
of  his  thinking,  and  yet  how  true  to  the  common  law  that  the 
character  of  the  man  is  given  shape  before  the  boy  is  out  of  his 
teens.  Washington  at  nineteen  was  a  military  leader;  John 
Adams  at  nineteen  was  a  political  philosopher.  The  boy  is  the 
type  of  the  man  inwardly  as  well  as  outwardly.  Immensely 
important  is  this  truth  to  know  and  act  upon  in  the  training 
of  youth. 

In  this  same  letter  there  are  some  noble  sentiments  on 
friendship.  He  says  :  "  Friendship,  I  take  it,  is  one  of  the  dis- 
tinguishing glories  of  man  ;  and  the  creature  that  is  insensible 
to  its  charms,  though  he  may  wear  the  shape  of  man,  is 
unworthy  of  the  character.  In  this,  perhaps,  we  bear  a  nearer 
resemblance  to  unembodied  intelligence  than  in  anything  else. 
From  this  I  expect  to  receive  the  chiei  happiness  of  my  future 
life."  This  indicates  that  he  was  as  great  in  heart  as  he  was  in 
intellect.  A  biographer  says  of  this  letter  :  "It  was  a  letter  of 
an  original  and  meditative  mind;  a  mind  as  yet  aided  only  by 
the  acquisitions  then  attainable  at  Harvard  college,  but  formed 
by  nature  for  statesmanship  of  the  highest  order/' 


JOHN  ADAMS.  93 

Very  soon  the  political  part  of  it  began  to  be  fulfilled.  Its 
fulfillment  is  not  complete  yet,  but  as  a  nation  we  are  marching 
in  the  line  of  his  foresight. 

In  a  letter  to  his  classmate,  Charles  Gushing,  written  the 
next  April,  he  writes  :  "  Upon  common  theatres  indeed  the 
applause  of  the  audience  it  more  to  the  actors  than  their  own 
approbation.  But  upon  the  stage  of  life,  while  conscience  claps, 
let  the  world  hiss.  On  the  contrary,  if  conscience  disapproves, 
the  loudest  applauses  of  the  world  are  of  but  little  value. 

"  We  have,  indeed,  the  liberty  of  choosing  what  character  we 
shall  sustain  in  this  great  and  important  drama.  But  to  choose 
rightly,  we  should  consider  in  what  character  we  can  do  the 
most  service  to  our  fellow  men  as  well  as  to  ourselves.  The 
man  who  lives  wholly  to  himself  is  less  worthy  than  the  cattle 
in  his  barn." 

Here  is  a  recognition  of  conscience  in  the  conduct  of  life 
which  would  be  creditable  to  any  divine  in  any  age.  Indeed,  it 
was  written  in  reply  to  his  friend's  counsel  that  he  should  enter 
the  ministry  for  his  life's  work.  His  father  desired  it ;  his  own 
heart  almost  persuaded  him  to  it ;  yet  he  had  become  such  an 
original  thinker  on  all  questions,  and  so  profoundly  believed  in 
the  mind's  liberty  and  power  and  duty  of  choice  that  he  finally 
decided  in  favor  of  the  law  as  the  field  in  which  he  could  be 
most  useful  to  himself  and  the  world.  In  this  letter  to  Charles 
Gushing  there  is  this  postscript :  "There  is  a  story  about  town 
that  I  am  an  Armenian."  Those  were  the  days  of  dominant 
Calvinism.  In  this  same  letter  he  had  indicated  that  the  divine 
"should  revere  his  own  understanding  more  than  the  decrees  of 
councils  or  the  sentiments  of  fathers,"  and  "should  resolutely 
discharge  the  duties  of  his  station  according  to  the  dictates  of 
his  mind."  This  power  and  necessity  of  original  thinking  on 
all  subjects  that  was  so  imperious  in  him  led  him  to  turn  from 
the  ministry,  though  as  he  said  in  his  diary:  "  My  inclination, 
I  think,  was  to  preach."  Under  the  same  date  he  says : 
"Although  the  reason  of  my  quitting  divinity  was  my  opinion 
concerning  some  disputed  points,  I  hope  I  shall  not  give 


94  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

reason  of    offense    to  any  of    that   profession  by    imprudent 
warmth/' 

On  the  twenty-first  of  August,  1756,  he  arranged  with  a  Mr. 
Putnam  to  study  law  two  years  in  his  office.  The  next  day,  in 
.noting  this  in  his  diary,  he  said:  "The  study  and  practice  of 
law,  I  am  sure,  does  not  dissolve  the  obligations  of  morality 
and  religion."  A  few  days  after  he  wrote  to  his  friend  Cranch 
of  his  "hard  fortune:"  "I  am  condemned  to  keep  school  two 
years  longer.  This  I  sometimes  consider  a  very  grievous  calam- 
ity, and  almost  sink  under  the  weight  of  woe."  He  was  to  teach 
school  while  he  studied  law.  The  hours  out  of  the  school-room 
were  to  be  given  to  the  study  of  law.  The  school-room  was  to 
board  and  clothe  him,  while  the  law  office  was  to  prepare  him 
for  his  future  profession.  But  checking  his  complaint  about 
his  hard  fortune  in  having  to  continue  teaching,  he  goes  forward 
in  a  long  letter  recounting  in  fervent  eloquence  the  blessings  life 
is  receiving  from  his  Maker,  and  his  multiform  reasons  for  grat- 
itude and  praise.  In  all  the  literature  of  religion  there  are  few 
finer  things  than  this  sweet  outpouring  of  intelligent  and  even 
poetic  gratitude,  in  this  letter  to  his  young  friend,  and  written 
two  months  before  he  was  twenty-one.  After  enumerating  in 
fine  and  fervent  language  his  blessings  in  this  life,  he  points  ta 
the  richer  ones  in  the  realm  of  the  future,  and  then  asks: 
"Shall  I  now  presume  to  complain  of  my  hard  fate?  God  for- 
bid. *  *  *  I  am  happy,  and  shall  remain  so  while  health  is 
indulged  to  me  after  all  the  other  adverse  circumstances  that 
fortune  can  place  me  in."  -He  then  speaks  of  teaching  school  and 
studying  law  at  the  same  time,  and  says:  "  It  will  be  hard  work, 
but  the  more  difficult  and  dangerous  the  enterprise  a  brighter 
crown  of  laurel  is  bestowed  on  the  conqueror."  He  persisted  in 
his  double  work  till  he  carried  through  his  law  studies  and  was 
admitted  to  the  bar. 

LAW   PRACTICE  IN   BRAINTREE. 

Mr.  Adams  was  now  a  lawyer  by  profession;  the  next  thing 
was  to  be  a  lawyer  by  practice.  He  could  not  very  well  teach 
school  and  practice  law.  Clients  would  not  seek  him  in  the 


JOHN  ADAMS.  95 

school-room,  so  he  left  the  school-room  to  take  his  chances  at 
earning  a  living  in  his  profession.  He  was  poor.  Where  should 
he  go?  There  seemed  but  one  place  for  him,  which  was  Brain- 
tree,  where  his  father's  roof  and  table  gave  him  what  he  had  not 
money  to  buy.  So  here  he  began  his  professional  career.  But 
he  had  no  prestige.  His  greatness  was  not  yet  known.  It  had 
not  been  published  that  he  would  sit  in  kings'  courts,  help 
create  and  then  rule  a  great  nation — that  he  was  to  enter  the 
the  ranks  of  the  greatest  men  of  the  world  and  was  to  go  into 
history  as  one  of  the  luminaries  of  humanity.  His  old  neigh- 
bors did  not  know,  or  dream  these  things  of  him;  so  they  did 
not  go  much  to  him  with  business.  He  sat  lonely  hours  in  his 
office  waiting  for  clients  that  did  not  come,  wondering  how  he 
should  ever  get  clients  and  business.  He  was  anxious,  sad  and 
full  of  questionings  as  to  what  to  do  and  what  he  could  do.  His 
coming  greatness  did  nothing  for  him,  and  he  had  to  plod  and 
work,  and  worry  and  wait,  as  nearly  all  young  professional  men 
have  to  do.  These  were  the  gloomy  days  of  his  life.  It  was 
long  an  anxious  question  as  to  what  he  should  do  in  life — what 
profession  he  should  adopt.  So  now  it  was  an  anxious  question 
as  to  how  he  should  get  anything  to  do  in  his  profession.  But 
he  did  not  give  up  in  despair,  nor  waste  his  time  in  idle  sorrow. 
He  renewed  his  zeal  in  the  study  of  law.  His  diary  indicates 
the  great  amount  of  study,  speculation  and  investigation,  which 
he  gave  to  the  broad  fields  of  natural,  statute  and  constitutional 
law,  as  well  as  the  law  of  nations.  In  this  lonely  and  unen- 
livened work  of  legal  research,  he  laid  the  foundations  of  his 
future  greatness.  If  clients  did  not  bring  him  cases,  he  found 
them  in  the  books.  If  his  neighbors  did  not  consult  him,  he 
consulted  the  law  as  it  had  been  adjudicated  in  the  practice  of 
the  past.  To  this  uncheered  study  he  devoted  several  years. 

On  the  twenty-fifth  of  May,  1761,  his  father  died,  after  nearly 
three  years  of  this  much  study  and  little  practice.  He  remained 
with  his  mother,  caring  for  her  business,  three  years  longer, 
when  he  married  Miss  Abigail  Smith,  daughter  of  Reverend  Will- 
iam Smith,  a  Congregational  clergyman  of  Weymouth,  a  town 
adjoining  Braintree.  Mrs.  Adams  was  a  woman  of  rare  ability 


96  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

and  worth.  She  was  connected  with  several  of  the  best  families 
in  the  colony.  She  was  herself  a  rich  flower  of  her  rich  family 
tree.  By  this  marriage,  after  six  years  of  weary  plodding  and 
studying  and  waiting,  his  business  prospects  brightened.  The 
many  family  connections  on  his  wife's  side  began  to  employ  him, 
and  by  their  influence  put  business  into  his  hands.  His 
acquaintance  enlarged.  Influential  friends  suggested,  here  and 
there,  his  employment  in  important  cases.  By  the  time  he  was 
thirty  years  old  he  seemed  to  have  got  well  started  in  his  pro- 
fession, largely  through  the  influence  which  came  to  him 
through  his  marriage  with  Miss  Smith. 

The  troubles  between  the  British  parliament  and  the  colonies 
began  to  foment  about  this  time,  which  led  to  public  meetings, 
to  addresses,  resolutions,  and  much  private  and  public  discus- 
sion of  the  felations  of  the  colonies  to  the  mother  country. 
A  society  of  lawyers  had  been  formed  in  Boston  for  extended 
study  of,  and  dissertations  on,  important  legal  questions.  Mr. 
Adams,  though  living  ten  miles  away,  was  invited  to  join  this 
association.  It  did  much  to  sharpen  and  broaden  the  legal 
talent  of  Boston  and  vicinity;  and  his  participation  in  its  discus- 
sion brought  him  to  a  more  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  bar 
of  Boston.  He  had,  some  years  before,  heard  James  Otis,  in  an 
argument  on  writs  of  assistance,  go  to  the  bottom  of  their  danger 
as  instruments  of  tyranny,  and  written  out  the  argument  in  his 
diary,  which  led  him  to  a  profound  study  of  human  rights.  All 
these  things  were  schooling  him  for  the  great  work  that  was  before 
him,  and  acquainting  him  with  the  men  to  be  joined  with  him. 
The  Stamp  act  was  passed  by  the  British  parliament  in  March, 
1765,  and  was  to  go  into  operation  November  1.  The  Massachu- 
setts Colonial  Legislature  took  decisive  action,  in  June,  to  resist 
that  act,  which  proposed  to  tax  the  colonies  without  their  repre- 
sentation. James  Otis  proposed  that  all  the  colonies  should  be 
invited  to  join  with  Massachusetts,  and  that  to  this  end  a  repre- 
sentative meeting  of  delegates  from  all  the  colonies  be  held  in 
October,  in  New  York  city. 

This  was  the  initiatory  movement  to  a  union.  It  was  due  to 
James  Otis,  at  that  time  one  of  the  most  powerful  and  patriotic 


JOHK   ADAMS.  97 

• 

orators  of  Massachusetts.  The  public  meetings  held  in  Boston 
that  summer  to  resist  the  Stamp  act  were  addressed  by  Mr. 
Adams,  by  invitation  of  the  citizens. 

When  it  became  clear  that  the  people  would  not  permit  the 
use  of  stamps,  the  Governor  announced  that  all  business  would 
be  suspended,  especially  of  the  custom-house  and  courts.  Mr. 
Adams  had  now  got  a  good  start  as  a  lawyer,  had  a  thriving 
business,  a  large  acquaintance  and  a  growing  popularity.  It 
seemed  to  him  as  though  this  Stamp  act  was  sure  to  ruin  it.  If 
the  courts  were  closed,  his  occupation  was  gone.  He  expressed 
his  gloomy  fears  in  his  diary.  The  very  next  day  he  received  a 
letter,  sent  by  express,  from  the  town  clerk  of  Boston,  asking 
his  aid  as  counsel  for  the  town,  in  connection  with  James  Otis, 
Jeremiah  Gridley  and  William  Cooper,  to  secure  the  continu- 
ance of  the  courts  without  the  vise  of  stamps.  The  proposition 
was  to  be  argued  before  the  governor  and  his  council.  Nothing 
was  effected  by  this  hearing,  only  to  make  more  vigorous  and 
popular  and  intelligent  the  opposition  to  the  tyrannical  act. 

EEMOVAL   TO    BOSTON. 

So  much  had  his  business  increased  in  Boston,  and  all  his 
interests  become  identified  with  that  town,  that  in  1768  he  took 
up  his  residence  there.  The  events  in  England  and  America 
were  tending  rapidly  to  revolution.  Question  after  question  was 
being  discussed.  The  conflict  between  the  governor  of  Massa- 
chusetts and  the  town  of  Boston  grew  more  and  more  compli- 
cated and  determined.  The  best  legal  talent  was  in  constant 
service.  Mr.  Adams  was  one  of  the  most  active,  and  was  always 
unswerving  in  the  interests  of  justice  and  the  people.  The 
front  of  the  conflict  was  between  the  governor,  England's  ser- 
vant, and  the  legislature  —  the  servant  of  the  people.  For 
several  years  this  conflict  raged  with  all  the  force  that  craft  and 
power  and  money  could  apply  on  the  part  of  the  governor,  and 
the  honest  skill  and  patriotic  zeal  of  the  people,  defending  their 
rights  and  resisting  tyranny  on  the  part  of  the  legislature.  Mr. 
Adams,  through  these  years  of  intellectual  encounter,  was  the 
patriotic  lawyer,  the  people's  counsellor,  the  sharp,  strong,  zeal- 
7 


98  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

4 

ous  advocate  of  American  rights  and  principles.  He,  with  his 
patriotic  coadjutors,  won  victory  after  victory  in  these  legal  and 
moral  encounters,  till  the  people  were  so  fired  and  the  king  and 
his  parliament  so  resolved  on  the  forced  submission  of  the  colo- 
nies that  the  civil  power  retired  and  the  military  arm  came  into 
rule  by  might.  Now  courts  were  suspended,  legislatures  were  at 
an  end,  and  Mr.  Adams  realized  what  he  feared  when  the  Stamp 
act  was  passed — the  loss  of  all  business.  With  the  coming  of 
General  Gage,  commander  of  all  the  British  forces  in  America, 
and  the  occupancy  of  Boston  by  his  troops,  the  lawyers'  business 
ceased.  Cases  were  not  to  be  tried  in  the  presence  of  cannon. 
Arguments  were  not  to  be  made  to  regiments  in  arms. 

At  this  gloomy  time,  when  his  wife  was  on  a  visit  to  Brain- 
tree,  he  wrote  to  her  as  follows: 

BOSTON,  12  May,  1774. 

My  own  infirmities,  the  account  of  the  return  of  yours,  and  the  public 
news,  coming  all  together,  have  put  my  philosophy  to  the  trial. 

We  live,  my  dear  soul,  in  an  age  of  trial.  What  will  be  the  conse- 
quence I  know  not.  The  town  of  Boston,  for  aught  I  can  see,  must  suffer 
martyrdom.  It  must  expire,  and  our  principal  consolation  is,  that  it  dies  in 
a  noble  cause — the  cause  of  truth,  of  virtue,  of  liberty  and  of  humanity, 
and  that  it  will  probably  have  a  glorious  resurrection  to  greater  wealth, 
splendor  and  power  than  ever. 

Let  me  know  what  it  is  best  for  us  to  do.  It  is  expensive  keeping  a 
family  here,  and  there  is  no  prospect  of  any  business  in  my  way  in  this 
town  this  whole  summer.  I  don't  receive  a  shilling  a  week.  We  must  con- 
trive as  many  ways  as  we  can  to  save  expenses,  for  we  may  have  calls  to 
contribute  very  largely,  in  proportion  to  our  circumstances,  to  prevent  other 
very  honest,  worthy  people  from  suffering  for  want,  besides  our  own  loss  in 
point  of  business  and  profit. 

Don't  imagine  from  all  this  that  I  am  in  the  dumps.  Far  otherwise. 
I  can  truly  say  that  I  have  felt  more  spirits  and  activity  since  the  arrival  of 
this  news  than  I  have  done  for  years.  I  look  upon  this  as  the  last  effort  of 
Lord  North's  despair,  and  he  will  as  surely  be  defeated  in  it  as  he  was  in  the 
project  of  the  tea. 

His  letters,  diary  and  public  addresses  all  indicate  that  he 
had  a  profound  philosophy  of  the  triumph  of  liberty  and  jus- 
tice. However  dark  the  present,  he  saAV  light  in  the  future. 
If  Boston  shall  be  laid  in  ashes,  a  new  Boston  will  rise  there- 


JOHN  ADAMS.  99 

from  more  glorious  and  powerful.  If  America  shall  suffer  from 
misgovernment  and  oppression,  she  shall  come  from  her  suffer- 
ings renewed  in  spirit  for  a  grander  career.  He  had  read  history 
to  learn  that  truth,  right  and  virtue,  in  the  long  run,  prevail; 
and  that  wrong  and  injustice  turn  upon  and  devour  their  propa- 
gators at  last.  He  had  rejected  the  prevailing  theology  because 
of  its  despair  of  human  nature  and  its  distrust  of  the  Divine 
goodness.  He  had  adopted  a  generous  and  hopeful  philosophy 
of  humanity.  All  this  now  came  to  sustain  him  in  his  own 
and  his  country's  peril  and  distress ;  and  not  only  to  sustain 
him,  but  to  make  him  a  great  leader,  through  darkness  and  war, 
to  the  light  and  peace  beyond.  It  was  not  simply  his  intel- 
lectual strength  and  furnishing  that  made  him  the  power  he 
was  in  his  times,  but  those  great  and  humane,  and  hopeful,  moral 
and  religious  convictions  which  almost  led  him  into  the  minis- 
try, and  would,  but  for  his  rejection  of  some  of  the  dogmas  of 
the  prevailing  church,  and  which  he  carried  into  all  the  work 
of  his  life.  He  was  a  lawyer,  and  believed  in  law ;  a  philoso- 
pher, and  believed  in  truth  ;  a  moralist,  and  believed  in  virtue  ; 
and  a  religionist,  and  believed  in  God.  All  these  combined 
made  the  basis  of  his  statesmanship  and  the  ruling  power  of  his 
private  and  public  life. 

The  opening  of  the  war  scenes  of  the  revolution  changed  the 
course  of  Mr.  Adams'  life.  He  was  a  lawyer,  and  sought  only 
to  magnify  his  calling.  He  had  ambition,  but  it  was  in  the 
line  of  his  profession.  He  saw  an  ample  field  for  all  his  power; 
but  now  his  occupation  was  gone,  Boston,  his  chosen  home, 
was  a  camp  of  war.  The  rights  of  his  countrymen  were  tram- 
pled under  invading  feet.  There  was  but  one  course  for  him  to 
pursue ;  that  was  to  put  himself  and  all  he  had  into  the  defense 
of  the  rights  of  America. 

PUBLIC   LIFE   BEGAN. 

Mr.  Adams  was  now  thirty-nine  years  old.  General  Gage, 
now  acting  in  the  double  capacity  of  military  commander  and 
civil  governor,  had  ordered  the  meeting  of  the  legislature  of  the 


100  OUR    PRESIDENTS. 

colony  at  Salem,  instead  of  Boston.  An  effort  was  made  to  put 
John  Adams  on  the  council  of  the  governor,  but  Gage,  hearing 
of  it,  negatived  it  at  once.  The  legislature  met  in  Salem,  June 
7,  1774.  Its  members  began  at  once  the  most  active  secret 
measures  to  defeat  the  plans  of  the  governor.  On  the  seven- 
teenth of  June,  a  motion  was  made  that  the  doorkeeper  keep 
the  door  closed  against  all  passage  in  or  out.  One  hundred  and 
twenty-nine  members  were  present.  At  once  a  resolution  was 
offered  in  approval  of  the  meeting  in  Philadelphia  on  the  first 
of  September,  of  the  committees  from  the  several  colonies  of 
America — the  Colonial  Congress,  in  fact, — according  to  the  sug- 
gestion of  James  Otis  nine  years  before,  in  relation  to  the  Stamp 
act.  The  object  of  the  meeting  as  stated  in  the  resolution  was: 
"  To  consult  upon  wise  and  proper  measures  to  be  recommended 
to  all  the  colonies  for  the  recovery  and  establishment  of  their 
just  rights  and  liberties,  civil  and  religious,  and  the  restoration 
of  union  and  harmony  between  the  two  countries,  most 
ardently  desired  by  all  good  men."  This  bold  resolution,  with 
others,  was  taken  up  at  once.  It  was  a  surprise  to  most  of  the 
members.  It  was  a  move  toward  union,  and  dictation  to 
England.  They  were  consulting  in  defiance  of  their  governor. 
There  were  spies  in  the  assembly.  One  of  them  evaded  the 
vigilance  of  the  doorkeeper  and  carried  intelligence  to  the 
governor.  The  governor  immediately  sent  a  messenger  to 
prorogue  the  legislature.  But  the  doorkeeper's  orders  were 
absolute  and  he  would  not  admit  him,  but  sent  in  word  of  his 
mission.  The  legislature  took  no  notice  of  it.  A  few  idlers 
and  members  had  gathered  on  the  steps  outside,  and  to  them  the 
messenger  read  the  governor's  proroguing  message;  but  the  work 
inside  went  on.  The  resolutions  were  discussed  and  passed  — 
one  hundred  and  seventeen  for,  and  twelve  against  them. 
James  Bowdoin,  Thomas  Gushing,  Samuel  Adams,  John  Adams 
and  Robert  Treat  Payne,  were  appointed  to  serve  Massachusetts 
in  the  congress.  When  this  great  initiatory  step  was  taken,  the 
legislature  dissolved  according  to  the  governor's  order,  never 
more  to  meet  under  royal  authority. 


JOHN  ADAMS.  101 


THE   COLONIAL   CONGRESS. 

The  Colonial  Congress  was  called  to  meet  September  1,  1774. 
It  was  for  consultation.  It  had  no  authority;  it  was  simply  a 
meeting  of  delegated  citizens  to  talk  over  their  grievances;  to 
get  acquainted  with  each  other  and  the  condition  of  the  colo- 
nies, and  try  to  act  together  in  their  endeavors  to  bring  Eng- 
land to  a  better  mind  toward  them.  Massachusetts  had  asked 
for  this  meeting  to  get  the  other  colonies  to  make  common 
cause  with  her,  to  sympathize  with,  and  share  her  oppression. 

The  first  things  considered  were  non-importation,  non-con- 
sumption and  non-exportation  acts.  It  would  hurt  England  to 
refuse  to  buy  her  goods,  to  cease  to  consume  anything  she  made, 
to  cease  to  sell  her  anything  the  colonies  produced. 

But  their  consultation  produced  quite  other  results  than 
their  acts!  It  stimulated  their  courage.  It  led  them  to  speak 
out  their  feelings.  "What  is  a  king's  promise?"  asked  young 
Eutledge,  of  South  Carolina,  in  a  defiant  tone.  "A  constitu- 
tional death  to  Lords  Bute,  Mansfield  and  North!"  cried  Har- 
rison. And  so  by  brave  words  Avhich  the  world  did  not  then 
hear,  as  their  consultations  were  secret,  they  opened  their  hearts 
to  each  other.  On  the  seventeenth  of  September  Adams  wrote 
in  his  diary:  "This  day  has  convinced  me  thtit  America  will 
support  Massachusetts,  or  perish  with  her."  Yet  the  delegates 
were  far  from  being  agreed  on  anything.  Many  of  them  were 
fearful  of  offending  the  king  and  his  governors.  They  generally 
loved  and  honored  England.  With  patience,  forbearance  and 
wisdom  they  talked  over  their  differences  of  opinion,  and  yet 
gave  out  to  the  world  that  unity  and  harmony  prevailed  among 
them.  The  unity  was  in  their  mutual  desire  to  allay  the  lion's 
anger,  and  their  wise  readiness  to  stand  by  each  other  in  their 
efforts  to  do  it. 

The  Congress  continued  two  months.  It  prepared  with  great 
care  a  petition  to  the  king,  and  the  acts  of  non-intercourse  as 
threats  and  proofs  of  their  resolution;  but  the  greatest  benefit 
of  the  Congress  was  the  acquaintance  of  the  leading  men  of  the 


102  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

colonies  with  each.  «3ther,  and  the  preparation  for  the  final  union 
made  by  this  acquaintance. 

CORRESPONDENCE   WITH   HIS   WIFE. 

This  journey  to  Philadelphia  was  Mr.  Adams'  first  visit  out 
cf  New  England.  It  was  full  of  interest  to  him  in  many 
respects.  During  this  journey  began  that  correspondence  with 
his  wife  on  political  matters,  which  has  been  of  great  interest  to 
the  world  since  their  day.  Mrs.  Abigail  Adams  was  a  woman 
of  rare  mind  who  entered  into  all  the  great  interests  of  the 
colonies  with  judgment  and  enthusiasm.  He  wrote  to  her  of 
the  questions  discussed  in  Congress,  and  she  to  him  of  the 
stirring  events  going  on  in  Boston  and  the  colony. 

The  correspondence  on  state  matters  thus  begun,  was  kept 
up  through  all  their  separation.  After  his  public  life  began 
they  were  much  separated,  and  the  history  of  that  life  was 
largely  written  in  his  letters  to  her. 

HIS   ELECTION  TO  THE   PROVINCIAL   CONGRESS. 

He  had  been  at  home  but  a  few  days,  before  he  was  called  to 
Watertown  to  give  his  counsel  in  the  Massachusetts  Provincial 
Congress,  then  in  session.  A  few  days  later  he  was  elected  by 
Braintree,  a  member  of  that  Congress,  and  continued  so  till  the 
end  of  its  career.  He  was  thus  in  the  heart  of  the  activities  of 
the  time  in  Massachusetts.  At  this  time  some  leading  tory  in 
Massachusetts,  who  called  himself  "Massachusettensis,"  wrote  a 
series  of  able  articles  in  a  Boston  newspaper,  on  the  British  view 
of  the  situation  and  in  defense  of  the  course  of  King  George. 

Mr.  Adams  wrote  a  series  of  articles  for  the  Boston  Gazette 
in  reply,  over  the  name  of  "Novanglus."  Both  series  were 
widely  read  and  studied  in  the  colonies.  The  articles  of  Mr. 
Adams  were  afterward  published  under  the  title  of  "A  History 
of  the  Dispute  with  America."  They  now  appear  permanently 
as  a  part  of  the  history  of  the  times  in  his  works.  His  grand' 
son  and  biographer,  Charles  Francis  Adams,  says  of  them:  "No 
publication  of  the  times  compares  with  them  in  extent  of 


JOHN   ADAMS.  103 

research  into  the  principles  of  the  ancient  law,  and  in  the  vigor- 
ous application  of  them  to  the  question  at  issue." 

By  the  Massachusetts  congress  Mr.  Adams  was  appointed  to 

THE   SECOND    CONTINENTAL  CONGKESS. 

The  winter  of  1774  and  1775  was  a  fearful  one  to  the  people 
of  Massachusetts.  In  April,  1775,  the  battles  of  Lexington  and 
Concord  were  fought,  which  brought  almost  all  the  male  popu- 
lation of  the  colony  under  arms  to  defend  their  homes  against 
the  soldiers  of  their  king.  Fearful  was  the  agitation  over  the 
whole  country.  In  the  midst  of  this  agitation  Mr.  Adams  set 
out  for  the  second  Continental  Congress  at  Philadelphia.  The 
delegates  were  everywhere  hailed  with  delight.  Their  journey 
was  made  an  ovation.  In  New  York,  almost  the  whole  city 
came  out.  The  whole  of  the  militia  were  in  arms.  This  day's 
ovation  settled  it  that  New  York  would  go  into  the  confederation 
of  the  colonies.  They  hastened  on.  The  Congress  met  in  a 
very  different  mood  from  that  in  which  it  parted  the  fall  before. 
Lexington  and  Concord  had  united  them.  The  spirit  of  the 
men  of  Massachusetts  was  now  in  the  people  of  all  the  colonies. 

Early  in  June  Mr.  Adams  moved  that  Congress  adopt  the 
army  around  Boston  as  its  own,  and  proceed  to  officer  and  supply 
it,  and,  in  making  the  motion,  said  that  though  it  was  not  time 
to  name  a  commander  yet,  "I  have  no  hesitation  to  declare  that 
I  have  one  gentleman  in  my  mind  for  that  important  command, 
and  that  is  a  gentleman  from  Virginia,  who  is  among  us  and 
very  well  known  to  us  all;  a  gentleman  whose  skill  and  experience 
as  an  officer;  whose  independent  fortune,  great  talents  and  excel- 
lent universal  character  will  command  the  approbation  of  all 
America  and  unite  the  cordial  exertions  of  all  the  colonies  better 
than  any  other  person  in  the  Union." 

On  the  fifteenth  of  June  the  army  was  adopted.  Immedi- 
ately after  George  Washington,  whom  Mr.  Adams  a  few  days 
before  had  pointed  out  as  the  proper  man,  was  elected  com- 
mander-in-chief.  Two  days  after,  June  17,  perhaps  at  the  very 
time  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill  was  being  fought,  he  wrote  to  a 
friend:  "This  appointment  will  have  a  great  effect  in^ cement- 


104  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

ing  and  securing  the  union  of  these  colonies;  the  liberties  of 
America  depend  upon  him,  in  a  great  degree." 

The  work  of  this  Congress  was  great,  and  it  was  greatly  done. 
It  had  to  provide  an  army  and  a  government,  unite  and  consoli- 
date the  people — in  a  word,  it  had  to  create  an  empire,  and  it 
did  it.  It  had  every  difficulty  in  the  way,  but  by  a  marvelous 
wisdom  it  got  over  and  around  them  all. 

AYhile  Mr.  Adams  was  at  this  work  he  was  receiving  letters 
from  his  wife  in  Braintree,  with  her  four  little  children  exposed 
to  the  horrors  of  war,  her  home  but  a  little  way  from  the  sea, 
in  a  region  swept  over  and  over  again  by  the  marauding  British 
soldiers,  and  visited  often  by  our  own  soldiers  in  their  needs. 
Under  anxiety  for  his  family,  and  for  the  whole  country,  he  and 
his  coadjutors  from  Massachusetts  had  to  perform  their  great 
duties.  These  were  indeed  "the  times  that  tried  men's  souls." 

After  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  Mr.  Adams  saw  clearly  that 
all  talk  of  reconciliation  was  vain,  and  he  shaped  his  course 
accordingly;  he  did  all  he  could  to  strengthen,  officer  and  sup- 
port the  army,  and  he  began  to  forecast  a  constitution,  laws,  a 
system  of  finance,  a  naval  defense  and  whatever  must  enter  into 
a  nation's  necessities.  While  he  did  not  break  with  the  timid 
and  halting,  like  John  Dickinson,  he  yet  planned  in  his  mind 
for  what  actually  came. 

About  this  time  two  of  his  private  letters  —  one  to  his  wife 
and  one  to  General  James  Warren  —  were  intercepted  by  the 
British  and  published  in  Boston.  They  were  so  radical  and 
vigorous  for  independence,  and  spoke  with  such  disrespect  of  all 
conciliation,  that  he  became  a  marked  man  in  the  king's  hatred. 
Parliament  talked  much  of  arresting  him,  and  the  king's  friends 
in  America  made  their  dislike  of  him  conspicuous.  Many  of 
the  timid  friends  of  the  colonies  shunned  him.  It  is  said  that 
John  Dickinson  became  his  enemy  for  the  rest  of-  his  life,  and 
that  even  John  Hancock  drew  away  from  him  and  became  cau- 
tious of  intercourse  with  him.  This  made  it  necessary  for  him 
to  use  every  argument,  public  and  private,  to  make  his  views 
known  and  understood  by  the  people.  In  Congress  and  out,  he 
grew  m(£re  and  more  influential,  and  he  reiterated  more  and 


JOHN   ADAMS.  105 

more  his  strong  opinion  that  peace  was  possible  only  at  the  arbi  - 
tration  of  the  sword.  Sink  or  swim,  survive  or  peiish,  we  mnst 
fight,  was  his  burning  conviction. 

The  course  of  the  British  government  more  and  more  con- 
vinced the  people  that  John  Adams  saw  the  alternative  offered 
to  the  colonies,  to  fight  for  their  independence  or  be  perma- 
nently oppressed.  Every  month  made  it  clearer  to  some  of  them, 
and  when  the  summer  of  1776  made  clear  to  the  people  that  our 
soldiers  could  match  the  red-coats,  and  that  the  decision  must 
be  made  by  the  fierce  onslaught  of  war,  they  were  ready  for  the 
declaration  of  independence.  There  were  still  many  for  begging 
and  cringing  and  waiting, — many  who  so  believed  in  the  infalli- 
bility and  omnipotence  of  England,  that  it  seemed  like  resisting 
the  Almighty  to  lift  the  feeble  hand  of  the  colonies  against  her ; 
but  John  Adams'  strong  voice  rang  out  for  freedom  or  death ; 
and  Patrick  Henry  responded  with  matchless  eloquence  to  the 
mighty  appeal.  At  length  the  die  was  cast,  and  the  country 
committed  to  freedom  or  death. 

MINISTER   TO   FRANCE. 

In  the  last  part  of  the  year  1777,  Mr.  Adams  was  appointed 
by  congress  minister  to  France.  He  accepted  the  dangers,  and 
set  sail  on  the  thirteenth  of  February,  1778,  and  reached  Paris 
the  eighth  of  April,  after  having  been  chased  by  British  cruisers, 
encountered  a  severe  storm  in  the  gulf-stream,  met  and  captured 
a  British  letter-of -marque,  and  passed  safely  the  exposure  in  the 
British  channel.  He  found  affairs  in  a  better  condition  than 
was  expected.  His  predecessor,  Mr.  Deane,  had  arranged  a 
treaty  that  gave  reasonable  satisfaction  to  the  country.  Mr. 
Adams  found  the  French  people  in  full  sympathy  with  America, 
and  in  the  belief  that  the  war  would  soon  close.  Indeed,  it  has 
been  since  learned  that  the  capitulation  of  Burgoyne  convinced 
the  English  government  that  it  could  not  conquer  her  vigorous 
colonies  in  America;  but  the  dogged  stubbornness  cf  the  British 
spirit  would  not  yield  till  the  capture  of  Cornwallis  at  Yorktown. 
Mr.  Adams  put  the  affairs  between  France  and  America  in  a 
satisfactory  condition,  and  returned  in  about  seventeen  months. 


106  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 


MASSACHUSETTS  CONSTITUTIONAL  CONVENTION. 

In  two  days  after  his  return  to  his  home,  Mr.  Adams  -was 
elected  by  Braintree  to  serve  in  the  convention  which  was  to 
form  a  constitution  for  Massachusetts.  In  this  commonwealth 
there  were  three  interests  to  be  conciliated  and  combined — the 
extreme  democracy  of  the  rural  districts,  the  extreme  property 
interests  chiefly  of  the  seaport  towns,  and  the  middle  class  of 
trading  and  professional  men.  They  were  each  clamoring  for 
supremacy.  If  they  coiild  be  happily  combined,  the  great 
question  of  popular  government  in  America  would  be  favorably 
solved.  The  convention  met.  As  though  by  a  good  Provi- 
dence, the  best-read  constitutional  lawyer  of  America,  John 
Adams,  had  returned  and  been  elected  to  this  convention.  He 
was  no  partisan ;  he  served  no  faction. ;  he  had  no  interest  of 
his  own  to  serve  ;  he  was  simply  the  ripe  man  of  the  times  pre- 
pared to  serve  the  new  nation  being  born  and  the  new  era  of 
constitutional  law  for  the  world.  As  Washington  was  the  provi- 
dential man  to  lead  the  armies  to  victory,  so  was  Adams  the 
providential  man  to  lay  the  foundation  of  the  new  government 
in  constitutional  law.  At  the  opening  of  the  convention,  his 
pre-eminent  abilities  and  service  to  his  country  pointed  to  him 
to  open  an  outline  of  the  work  to  be  done,  which  he  did  in  a 
speech  of  such  commanding  clearness  and  force  that  it  became 
the  fountain  of  unity  for  all  adverse  interests.  Personal  rights, 
property  rights,  state  rights  and  national  rights,  were  so  disen- 
tangled and  classified  that  the  convention  was  enabled  to  give 
them  all  their  proper  place  in  the  constitution,  and  thus  set 
before  the  world  an  outline  of  constitutional  law  in  which  all 
rights  are  protected,  and  a  government  by  the  people  made  pos- 
sible and  powerful. 

The  true  aim  of  government,  in  his  idea,  was  to  establish 
upon  the  firmest  footing  the  rights  of  all  who  live  under  it, 
giving  to  no  one  interest  power  enough  to  become  aggressive 
upon  the  rest,  and  yet  not  denying  to  each  a  share  sufficient  for 
its  own  protection.  The  convention  at  once  announced  its 
object  in  two  propositions  :  first,  "to  establish  a  free  republic;" 


JOHN  ADAMS.  107 

second,  "  to  organize  the  government  of  a  people  by  fixed  laws 
of  their  own  making." 

COMMISSIONER  FOR   PEACE. 

Mr.  Adams  was  not  through  with  the  work  of  the  conven- 
tion when  he  was  appointed  commissioner  to  treat  for  peace  and 
commerce  with  Great  Britain.  On  the  thirteenth  of  November, 
1779,  he  sailed  for  Paris  on  this  mission,  and  reached  the  French 
capital  on  the  fifth  of  February,  1780.  But  difficulties  arising 
between  him  and  Count  de  Vergennes,  he  had  less  to  do  on  this 
mission  than  was  expected.  While  remaining  at  Paris  he  used 
his  pen  freely  in  enlightening  Europe  on  American  affairs. 

During  his  stay  in  Europe  he  visited  Holland  and  effected  a 
treaty  of  amity  and  commerce  with  that  country  which  he 
always  regarded  with  as  much  satisfaction  as  any  service  he  ever 
rendered  his  own  country. 

Here,  in  the  "Gazette  "  of  Leyden,  he  published  twenty-six 
letters  on  the  revolution  in  America,  which  are  now  published 
in  his  works  by  his  grandson. 

With  Holland  he  arranged  fora  loan  of  money  for  the  United 
States,  which  was  a  great  help  to  them  in  their  financial  stress. 

Now  France,  Spain  and  Holland  had  become  friendly  and 
helpful  to  the  United  States. 

In  October,  1782,  he  returned  to  Paris,  and  after  much 
diplomatic  manoeuvering,  met  the  other  commissioners  from 
America  and  those  from  England,  and  arranged  for  a  treaty  of 
peace  with  England,  which  was  signed  at  Paris  on  the  twenty- 
first  of  January,  1783. 

Soon  after  this,  Frederick  the  Second,  of  Prussia,  made 
overtures  to  Mr.  Adams  for  a  treaty  of  amity  and  commerce 
with  his  country.  After  some  correspondence,  he  agreed  upon 
a  treaty  to  offer  to  Congress;  by  this  time  he  received  authority, 
in  conjunction  with  Dr.  Franklin  and  Mr.  Jefferson,  to  nego- 
tiate treaties  with  any  European  power  desiring  such  treaty. 

This  opened  a  prospect  of  a  much  longer  stay  in  Europe, 
and  Mrs.  Adams,  with  their  only  daughter,  went  to  France  to 
join  him  in  his  lonely  life  abroad.  This  was  a  comfort  and  help 


108  CUE   PRESIDENTS. 

lie  greatly  needed.  His  health  had  become  impaired  by  the 
strain  upon  him  in  the  last  ten  years.  He  needed  her  society. 
His  country  was  now  free,  and  though  yet  in  many  trials,  he 
believed  would  maintain  and  justify  itself  before  the  world 

Paris  was  in  a  stage  of  transition  from  what  it  had  been  to 
something  yet  to  be  determined.  Philosophy  and  literature  had 
become  the  rage  of  a  class  of  brilliant  and  fashionable  peopl  e. 
Religion  was,  in  the  main,  scouted  by  them.  The  flippant  ridi- 
cule of  all  things  sacred,  in  Avhich  Voltaire  was  the  brilliant  and 
easy-virtued  leader,  had  a  great  following.  Old  France  was 
despised;  new  France,  under  philosophy  and  popular  leadership, 
was  hailed  with  hurrahs.  Mr.  Adams  was  in  the  midst  of  this 
society.  They  had  only  congratulations  for  him  and  his  happy 
country.  But  he  knew  how  little  they  understood  his  country, 
and  the  profound  respect  of  its  people  for  all  that  is  sacred  in 
religion,  and  severe  and  self-sacrificing  in  virtue.  Through  a 
casting  down  of  religion  and  all  the  old  notions  of  government, 
the  French  looked  for  a  government  of  the  people ;  while 
America  looked  for  a  republic  tiirough  an  elevation  of  religion, 
and  a  practical  respect  for  whatever  has  been  found  useful  in 
constitutional  government. 

With  the  French,  freedom  was  a  frenzy  of  the  passions;  with 
the  Americans,  it  was  a  principle  of  the  conscience.  Not  under- 
standing it,  the  French  gave  the  Americans  great  joy  over  their 
success,  and  thought  they  were  about  to  copy  the  example ;  but 
they  gave,  at  last,  so  much  of  their  distraction  to  America, 
that  they  much  endangered  the  liberties  of  the  new  nation. 

THE    NEW   COMMISSION. 

On  the  thirtieth  day  of  August,  1784,  Mr.  Adams,  Dr. 
Franklin  and  Thomas  Jefferson  met  in  Paris  to  begin  their  work 
of  forming  treaties  of  amity  and  commerce  with  the  countries  of 
Europe.  But  no  country  came  forward  but  Prussia,  which  had 
already  a  well-considered  plan.  In  due  time  this  was  completed 
and  signed. 

On  the  twenty-fourth  day  of  February,  1785,  Congress 
elected  Mr.  Adams  to  the  post  of  envoy  to  the  court  of  St. 


JOHN   ADAMS.  109 

James;  and  accordingly  in  the  May  following  he  went  to  reside 
in  England.  This  appointment  to  the  court  of  George  III. 
made  necessary  a  presentation  to  the  king  in  person.  It  was 
probably  as  profoundly  cool  a  meeting  as  two  strongly  self- 
willed  and  high-positioned  persons  ever  had.  Each  did  his  part 
as  well  as  he  could  under  the  circumstances.  But  so  solid  was 
the  king's  hatred  of  the  rebels  whom  he  could  not  conquer,  and 
so  heartily  did  his  government  and  people  sympathize  with 
him,  that  no  satisfactory  treaty  of  commerce  could  be  made 
with  them.  At  that  time,  in  England,  the  prevailing  opinion 
was  that  the  United  States  was  a  union  of  sand  and  would  soon 
fall  apart.  The  first  flush  of  enthusiasm  in  Europe  over  the 
American  war,  soon  turned  into  a  distrustful  waiting  to  see 
what  would  be  the  result.  All  the  ancient  republics  had  been 
short-lived.  European  intelligence  generally  supposed  this 
would  be.  The  poverty  of  the  American  people  after  the  war; 
the  general  distraction  of  society;  their  difficulty  in  paying 
foreign  debts:  the  fierce  opposition  of  many  to  Washington  as 
president;  the  organization  of  Jacobin  or  democrat  clubs;  the 
tendency  in  many  places  to  rebellion;  the  prevailing  sympathy 
with  revolutionary  France;  the  sectional  jealousies;  the  distrust 
of  the  national  government  in  many  minds,  and  the  general 
irritability  of  the  popular  nerves,  made  European  monarchists 
generally  distrust  the  capacity  of  America  to  make  successful 
the  experiment  of  self-government;  and  in  England  this  convic- 
tion amounted  almost  to  a  certainty,  that  in  a  very  few  years  the 
conquering  rebels  would  call  upon  their  mother  country  to  take 
them  back.  And  there  was  much  in  America  to  awaken  distrust 
of  them.  Why,  then,  should  they  make  treaties  with  such  a 
body  of  anarchy?  Mr.  Adams  was  full  of  anxiety,  and  often 
wished  he  was  at  home  to  assist  in  making  general  the  principles 
he  had  put  into  the  constitution  of  Massachusetts. 

ADAMS'  PUBLICATIONS  IN  ENGLAND. 

From  his  long  residence  in  France,  Mr.  Adams  became  deeply 
convinced  of  the  dangerous  fallacies  that  were  leading  the 
French  people  into  irreligion  and  anarchy,  which  fallacies  he 


110  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

feared  were  misleading  many  Americans  and  endangering  their 
attempt  at  self-government.  So  to  rectify  European  and  Ameri- 
can mistakes  together,  as  far  as  he  could,  he  prepared  and  pub- 
lished, while  in  England,  a  work  of  three  volumes,  entitled,  "A 
Defense  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  of  America 
against  the  Attack  of  M.  Turgat."  It  gave  an  analysis  of  all 
ancient  free  governments,  and  summarized  their  histories  and 
results  in  the  main.  It  stated  and  enforced  his  ideas  of  the 
American  system.  The  first  volume  was  published  and  sent  to 
this  country  in  season  to  be  republished,  circulated  and  read, 
before  the  meeting  of  the  convention  which  made  the  constitu- 
tion under  which  the  United  States  have  had  a  century  of 
unexampled  prosperity.  It  was  an  antidote  to  the  French  ideas 
and  influence  which  were  then  prevailing.  It  was  a  help  to  the 
members  of  the  constitutional  convention,  to  the  state  legisla- 
tures and  people  at  large.  Perhaps  it  was  this  great  work  pub- 
lished abroad,  which  made  possible  to  America  the  inimitable 
constitution  under  which,  in  one  hundred  years,  it  has  become 

the  first  nation  in  the  world. 

i 

MADE  VICE-PRESIDENT. 

Mr.  Adams  took  leave  of  the  Old  World  on  the  twentieth  of 
April,  1788.  He  reached  America  in  the  midst  of  the  excite- 
ment over  the  acceptance  of  the  constitution.  In  the  formation 
of  the  government  under  the  constitution,  he  was  elected  the 
first  vice-president  to  serve  under  Washington.  The  office 
usually  is  not  very  important,  but  at  this  beginning  of  the  gov- 
ernment it  was  important  in  settling  usage  and  defining  import- 
ant principles;  for  no  less  than  twenty  times  during  the  first 
administration  did  he  cast  the  deciding  vote  in  the  senate,  and 
sometimes  explained  the  reasons  for  his  vote,  to  set  the  prin- 
ciples involved  clearly  before  the  people. 

MADE  SECOND   PRESIDENT. 

At  the  close  of  Washington's  second  term  of  office  as  presi- 
dent of  the  United  States,  John  Adams  \vas  elected  as  his  suc- 
cessor, with  Thomas  Jefferson  us  vice-president. 


JOHN  ADAMS.  Ill 

At  this  time,  political  partisanship  had  grown  to  be  strong. 
The  federalists  were  those  who  had  promoted  tha  adoption  of 
the  constitution ;  had  favored  a  strong  government  fashioned 
after  the  English  model,  in  which  the  legislative,  judicial  and 
executive  departments  held  checks  over  each  other,  and  all  had 
their  source  in  the  people.  Washington  and  Adams  were  of 
this  party,  though  neither  of  them  were  strong  partisans.  Thus 
far  it  had  been  the  dominant  party,  though  the  influence  of 
French  opinions  and  politics  had  grown  much  of  late  among  the 
rural  people,  and  the  influence  of  Jefferson,  the  leader  of  demo- 
cratic ideas,  had  come  to  be  strong.  The  democratic  party  was 
rather  organizing  than  organized.  It  was  composed  largely  of 
those  who  sympathised  with  the  lovers  of  freedom  in  France, 
and  had  an  intense  hatred  of  everything  English.  Its  whole 
stock  in  trade  was  a  splendid  theory,  and  the  enthusiasm  of 
many  of  its  devotees  was  very  great.  Mr.  Adams  was  a  leader 
in  founding  the  government,  in  constitution-making,  in  putting 
great  practical  principles  into  working  forms ;  but  not  a  leader 
in  organizing  men  into  party  activities. 

At  that  time  the  greed  for  office  had  not  grown  mucn  among 
the  strong  men  of  the  new  nation,  and  Mr.  Adams  found  it  dif- 
ficult to  fill  the  leading  places  in  his  government  with  first-class 
minds.  He  was  obliged  to  take  such  as  would  serve,  and  in  the 
end  the  weakness  of  some  of  his  cabinet  filled  his  way  with 
difficulties.  The  country  was  divided  chiefly  over  its  foreign 
policies.  The  federalists,  in  the  main,  approved  of  Mr.  Jay's 
treaty  with  England,  which  Washington  had  signed,  and  lost 
many  friends  by  doing  so,  while  the  opposition  party  approved 
of  a  close  sympathy  with  the  new  things  in  France  and  called 
the  federalists  tories.  The  strong  French  party  in  America  led 
many  unscrupulous  French  managers  to  attempt  to  carry 
America  into  the  French  war  with  England,  and  then  their  con- 
duct was  so  false  to  treaty  obligations  as  to  come  near  causing 
a  war  between  France  and  America.  All  preparations  were 
made,  even  to  raising  an  army  and  appointing  its  leading  offi- 
cers; but  before  declaring  war,  Mr.  Adams  thought  some  further 
effort  should  be  made  to  avert  it,  and  when  the  French  leaders 


VIS  OUR  PRESIDENTS. 

found  what  resentment  they  had  stirred  up  in  America,  th.ey 
were  as  anxious  to  allay  it  as  were  the  friends  of  peace  in  Amer- 
ica to  have  it  allayed.  It  was  an  over-interest  in  French  and 
English  affairs  which  led  different  classes  in  America  into  for- 
eign sympathies  and  entanglements,  that  caused  the  government 
much  trouble  and  came  very  near  wrecking  the  new  ship  of 
state. 

It  has  since  become  pretty  clear  that  Mr.  Hamilton,  the 
leader  of  the  federalists,  was  in  league  with  ambitious  schemers 
in  England  and  elsewhere  to  secure  large  portions  of  the  Spanish 
possessions  in  America  for  the  United  States,  and  as  an  entering 
wedge  to  this  scheme,  a  war  with  France  would  raise  a  large  army 
which  he  would  lead,  and  once  raised  he  thought  to  make  it 
necessary  to  keep  it  large  and  active  in  promoting  his  ambitious 
schemes  of  empire.  A  country  without  an  army  was  not  known 
in  the  world,  and  Hamilton  believed  an  army  was  needed  in 
America.  It  looks  as  though  he  would  have  been  glad  to  play  a 
Napoleonic  part  on  the  American  continent. 

To  inaugurate  his  plan,  Mr.  Hamilton  worked  secretly, 
through  Mr.  Adams'  cabinet  and  the  friendship  of  Washington, 
neither  of  whom  mistrusted  his  ambitious  designs.  But  Mr. 
Adams'  aversion  to  war,  only  as  a  last  resort,  and  his  personal 
resolution  against  his  cabinet,  to  make  still  further  overtures 
to  France,  consumed  time  for  France  to  see  some  of  her  mis- 
takes and  to  make  clear  a  way  of  adjustment.  So  war  with 
France  was  averted;  Hamilton's  schemes  of  an  empire  in  the 
Spanish  possessions  were  frustrated,  and  the  young  American 
ship  of  state  was  tided  over  the  most  dangerous  shoals  it  has 
yet  encountered. 

It  was,  perhaps,  some  knowledge  of  these  growing  "foreign 
entanglements"  which  led  Washington  in  his  farewell  address 
to  solemnly  warn  his  countrymen  against  them,  and  to  charge 
them  to  be  loyal  to  the  development  of  their  own  affairs.  A 
tolerably  full  account  of  these  troublous  times  and  their  intrigues 
and  dangers,  is  to  be  found  in  "  The  Life  and  Works  of  John 
Adams,"  by  Charles  Francis  Adams.  A  knowledge  of  these  things 


JOHN  ADAMS.  113 

is  necessary  to  an  understanding  of  the  political  issues  of  that 
time,  and  the  strong  parties  that  proceeded  therefrom. 

In  cine  course  of  time  Mr.  Adams'  intelligent  and  faithful 
administration  came  to  its  close.  As  it  is  looked  to  now,  his  part 
in  it  is  regarded  as  one  of  great  purity  and  integrity.  The  pol- 
icies and  schemes  of  France  and  England  had  been  forced  upon 
this  country.  The  people  had  not  learned  that  they  should  be 
wholly  separate  from  foreign  entanglements.  Some  individuals 
in  Mr.  Adams'  party  schemed  with  parties  abroad,  which  brought 
him  and  his  party  into  great  and  undeserved  odium.  The  truth 
of  this  scheming  was  then  only  partially  understood,  and  the 
bitterness  engendered  by  it  was  all  the  greater  on  this  account. 

RETIREMENT   TO   BRAINTREE. 

On  the  fourth  of  March,  1801,  Thomas  Jefferson  was  inau- 
gurated as  Mr.  Adams'  successor,  with  Aaron  Burr  as  vice- 
president.  Mr.  Adams  retired  at  once  from  the  scene,  not  wait- 
ing even  for  the  ceremonies  of  inauguration.  He  was  sensitive 
and  passionate  to  a  high  degree,  even  dictatorial  and  absolute 
when  aroused.  He  had  been  level-headed  and  just-minded 
through  all  the  differences,  and  had  actually  saved  his  country 
from  war,  and  perhaps  from  an  early  death,  and  yet  was  rewarded 
for  it  by  seeing  his  most  bitter  opponent,  and  the  man  that  had 
done  most  to  bring  in  foreign  ideas,  raised  to  his  place.  But 
far  wiser  would  it  have  been  for  him  to  have  mastered  his  resent- 
ment and  gone  calmly  from  what  he  thought  the  scene  of  his 
defeat.  In  reality  he  was  victor.  Posterity  has  done  him  jus- 
tice. He  now  stands  as  more  nearly  the  peer  of  Washington 
than  any  other  of  the  great  revolutionary  patriots.  He  was 
greatest  of  all  as  a  constitutional  lawyer  and  statesman.  His 
purity  and  integrity  were  equal  to  Washington's,  but  he  lacked 
the  fine  poise,  the  discretion,  the  quick  insight  into  men  and. 
occasions,  the  ability  to  put  himself  aside  and  see  as  an  outsider, 
and  act  accordingly.  He  lacked  the  reserve  of  speech,  the  pre- 
vailing modesty  and  overmastering  serenity  which  did  so  much 
for  the  great  father  of  his  country.  Ho  was  too  out-spoken,  sell- 
8 


114  OUR    PRESIDENTS. 

assorting,  and  too  separate  from  common  men,  and  so  was  never 
popular — was  always  unfortunate  with  the  masses. 

After  the  presidency,  he  retired  to  his  farm  and  followed  that 
early  inclination  which  wanted  to  be  a  farmer. 

He  at  once  set  about  his  private  and  domestic  affairs,  and 
spent  the  remainder  of  his  life  in  retirement  from  public  inter- 
ests. Twenty-six  years  he  had  spent  in  the  heart  of  his  coun- 
try's affairs,  after  Washington,  the  most  useful  man  in  founding 
our  institutions.  This  great  country  owes  much  to  the  genius 
of  his  great  mind  in  harmonizing  and  adjusting  the  principles 
and  powers  put  into  it.  It  has  worked  a  hundred  years  with  but 
little  change,  and  may  work  on  as  long  as  its  people  shall  be 
loyal,  intelligent  and  virtuous. 

In  his  retirement,  Mr.  Adams  read  extensively — more  exten- 
sively than  ever  before.  He  restudied  the  great  questions  of 
religion,  and  finally  settled  nearly  upon  the  general  ideas  of  the 
Unitarian  theology,  and  lived  and  died  in  great  peace  of  mind 
touching  those  matters. 

After  years  of  estrangement,  through  mutual  friends,  ne 
came  into  amicable  relations  with  Mr.  Jefferson.  With  the 
decline  of  that  rancorous  party  spirit  that  was  so  savage  at  the 
close  of  his  administration,  returning  friendship  for  him  showed 
itself  in  many  ways,  and  his,  at  first,  embittered  life  in  retire- 
ment, became  cheerful  and  beautiful.  His  son,  John  Quincy, 
came  into  public  notice  as  a  rising  man  of  his  time,  and  he  felt 
a  renewed  interest  in  the  affairs  of  government,  and  the  general 
interests  of  the  public. 

On  the  twenty-eighth  of  October,  1818,  his  wife  died  in  the 
eighty-third  year  of  his  age.  This  cast  a  deep  shadow  over  his 
life.  They  had  lived  in  great  peace,  mutual  helpers  to  one 
another. 

When  about  eighty-five  years  old  he  wrote  a  series  of  letters 
to  Judge  Tudor,  detailing  with  great  definiteness  the  early  move- 
ment of  the  people  of  Massachusetts  in  defense  of  their  rights  — 
giving  in  minute  detail  the  parts  enacted  by  Otis,  Hawley  and 
Samuel  Adams.  This  series  of  letters  has  been  the  source  from 
which  nearly  all  we  now  know  of  those  events,  was  drawn. 


JOHN   ADAMS.  115 

On  the  fifteenth  day  of  November,  1815,  he  was  elected  by 
Braintree  to  the  state  convention  called  to  amend  the  constitu- 
tion on  the  creation  of  the  district  of  Maine  into  a  separate  state ; 
and  so  he  helped  amend  the  constitution  he  assisted  in  making 
forty  years  before.  In  this  convention  he  received  great  testimo- 
nials of  respect.  It  was  a  fitting  close  of  a  great  public  career. 
His  declining  years  grew  more  and  more  tranquil.  He  enjoyed 
the  rising  recognition  of  his  son's  worth,  and  lived  to  see  him 
elected  president  of  the  government  he  had  done  so  much  to 
found.  He  died  on  the  fourth  of  July,  1826,  just  fifty  years 
after  the  declaration  of  independence.  His  last  words  were, 
"Thomas  Jefferson  still  survives."  But  it  was  soon  learned  that 
Jefferson  had  died  an  hour  before.  So  these  great  compatriots 
were  called  home  almost  together,  just  when  the  nation  was 
rejoicing  in  the  first  semi-centennial  of  its  existence. 


f  HE  CRAVES  OF  THE  &DAMSES. 

There  is  something  touching  in  the  contemplation  of  the 
graves  of  two  presidents,  father  and  son,  who  sleep  side  by  side, 
with  their  companions,  in  the  town  where  they  were  born  and 
which  always  held  their  homes,  and  under  the  church  built  by 
the  congregation  with  which  they  worshiped.  So  sleep  the 
two  Adamses.  At  the  death  of  John  Adams  in  1826,  his  son, 
then  president,  secured  from  the  trustees  of  the  new  church 
about  to  be  built,  a  deed  to  "a  portion  of  soil  in  the  cellar, 
situated  under  the  porch,  and  containing  fourteen  feet  in  length 
and  fourteen  feet  in  breadth,"  with  the  privilege  of  affixing 
tablets  with  obituary,  inscriptions,  in  the  walls  of  the  church. 
In  this  crypt  was  deposited,  in  1828,  the  bodies  of  John  and 
Abigail  Adams;  and  in  1848,  those  of  John  Quincy  Adams  and 
his  wife.  The  tomb  is  in  the  front  part  of  the  cellar  and  is 
made  of  large  blocks  of  granite,  slightly  faced.  A  granite  slab, 
seven  feet  by  three,  hung  on  strong  iron  hinges,  and  fastened 
with  clasp  and  padlock,  is  the  door.  The  bodies  are  inclosed  in 


116  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

leaden  caskets,  placed  in  stone  coffins,  each  hewn  from  a  single 
block  of  granite. 

In  the  church  above,  at  the  right  of  the  pulpit,  as  seen  from 
the  pews,  is  the  memorial  tablet  of  marble,  seven  feet  by  four, 
surmounted  by  a  life-size  bust  from  Horatio  Greenough.  Below 
the  bust  is  the  Latin  line: 

Libertatem,  Amicitiam,  Fidem,  Retinebus. 

Above  the  tablet  are  the  words :  Thy  will  be  done.     The  inscrip- 
tion upon  the  tablet  is  in  two  columns ;  the  first  is  as  follows: 

D.  O.  M. 

Beneath  these  walls 
Are  deposited  the  mortal  remains  of 

IJjcrlm  Julams, 

Son  of  John  and  Susanna  (Boylston)  Adams, 
Second  President  of  the  United  States: 

Born  19-30,  October,  1735. 

On  the  Fourth  of  July,  1776, 

He  pledged  his  Life,  Fortune  and  Sacred  Honor 

To  the 
INDEPENDENCE  OF  HIS  COUNTRY. 

On  the  Third  of  September,  1783, 
He  affixed  his  seal  to  the  definitive  treaty  with  Great  Britain, 

Which  acknowledged  that  independence, 

And  consummated  the  redemption  of  his  pledge. 

On  the  Fourth  of  July,  1826, 

He  was  summond 
To  the  Independence  of  Immortality, 

And  to  the 

JUDGMENT  OF  HIS  GOD. 

This  House  will  bear  witness  to  his  piety; 

This  Town,  his  birthplace,  to  his  munificence; 

History  to  his  patriotism ; 
Posterity  to  the  depth  and  compass  of  his  mind. 


JOHN  ADAMS.  117 

The  inscription  in  the  second  column  is  as  follows  : 

At  his  side 
Sleeps,  till  the  trumpet  shall  sound, 


His  beloved  and  only  wife, 
Daughter  of  William  and  Elizabeth  (Quincy)  Smith; 

In  every  relation  of  life  a  pattern 

Of  filial,  conjugal,  maternal  and  social  virtua 

Bom  November  11-22,  1744; 

Deceased,  28  October,  1818; 

Aged  74. 

Married,  25  October,  1764. 

During  an  union  of  more  than  half  a  century, 

They  survived,  in  harmony  of  sentiment  and  affection, 

The  tempests  of  civil  commotion: 

Meeting  undaunted,  and  surmounting 

The  terrors  and  trials  of  that  Revolution, 

"Which  secured  the  freedom  of  their  Country; 

Improved  the  condition  of  their  times; 

And  brightened  the  prospects  of  Futurity 

To  the  race  of  Man  upon  Earth. 

PILGRIM. 

From  lives  thus  spent,  thy  earthly  duties  learn; 
From  fancy's  dreams  to  active  virtue  turn; 
Let  Freedom,  Friendship,  Faith,  thy  soul  engage, 
And  serve,  like  them,  thy  country  and  thy  age. 

On  the  other  side  of  the  pulpit,  the  tablet  of  John  Quincy 
Adams  and  his  wife  occupies  a  similar  place.  It  is  surmo'unted 
by  a  similar  bust,  beneath  which  are  the  words,  "Alteri  Sceculo," 
divided  by  an  acorn  and  two  oak  leaves.  Over  the  tablet  is 
"  Tby  kingdom  come."  As  on  the  other  tablet,  the  first  column 
is  devoted  to  the  president,  and  the  other  to  his  wife.  Without 


118  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

preserving  the  lineal  divisions,  but  retaining  the  capitals,  this 
is  the  record: 

Near  this  place  reposes  all  that  could  die  of  John  Quincy  Adams,  Son 
of  John  and  Abigail  (Smith)  Adams,  sixth  President  of  the  United  States. 
Born  11  of  July,  1767,  amidst  the  storms  of  civil  commotion,  he  nursed  the 
vigor  which  inspires  a  Christian.  For  more  than  half  a  century,  Whenever 
his  country  called  for  his  labors,  In  either  Hemisphere  or  in  any  capacity, 
He  never  spared  them  in  her  cause.  On  the  twenty -fourth  of  December, 
1814,  He  signed  the  second  treaty  with  Great  Britain  which  restored  Peace 
within  her  borders.  On  the  twenty  third  of  February,  1848,  he  closed  six- 
teen years  of  eloquent  defense  of  the  lessons  of  his  youth,  by  dying  at  his 
post  in  her  great  National  Council.  A  Son  worthy  of  his  Father,  A  Citizen 
shedding  glory  on  his  country,  A  Scholar  ambitious  to  advance  Mankind, 
this  Christian  sought  to  walk  humbly  In  the  sight  of  God. 

The  second  column  on  the  tablet  records  the  important  facts 
of  the  life  of  his  "partner  for  fifty  years,  Louisa  Catharine,"  of 
whom  it  is  said  that,  "living  through  many  vicissitudes  and 
under  high  responsibilities  as  a  daughter,  wife  and  mother,  she 
proved  equal  to  all ;  dying,  she  left  to  her  family  and  her  sex 
the  blessed  remembrance  of  'a,  woman  that  feareth  the  Lord.'" 

Under  the  parallel  columns  is  this  verse  :  "  One  soweth  and 
another  reapeth.  I  sent  you  to  reap  that  whereon  ye  bestowed 
no  labor.  Other  men  labored,  and  ye  are  entered  into  their 
labor." 

The  church  itself  is  a  massive  stone  structure,  the  front  sup- 
ported by  heavy  columns,  with  a  graceful  cupola  and  a  gilded 
dome  above  it.  It  is  embowered  in  immense  elm  and  chestnut 
trees.  It  is  near  the  old  Adams  home,  and  is  owned  and  used 
by  the  Unitarian  congregation  of  Quincy,  with  which  the 
Adamses  were  associated. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

THIRD  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


HIS    ANCESTRY. 

'HE  common  maxim,  that  "blood  will  tell,"  is  as  well 
enforced  in  the  case  of  Thomas  Jefferson  as  of  George 
Washington,  or  any  other  conspicuous  character. 
Though  it  must  never  be  forgotten  that  some  other  things 
"will  tell,"  also.  Work  will  tell;  virtue  will  tell;  per- 
sistent effort  will  tell ;  manhood,  worth,  courage  will  tell ; 
all  good  qualities  have  a  telling  force.  Not  all  good  blood  tells 
for  great  character.  In  families  of  the  best  blood,  only  a  few 
become  conspicuous.  Though  good  blood  is  a  good  thing,  there 
are  better  things  —  strong  mind  ;  noble  will ;  virtuous  heart ; 
resolute  high-mindedness. 

The  ancestors  of  Thomas  Jefferson,  on  his  father's  side,  were 
of  good  Welsh  stock,  occupying  good  places  in  society  in  the 
mother  country,  and  exhibiting  strong  force  of  character  and 
rightness  of  purpose.  They  did  not  deteriorate  in  their  change 
of  home.  The  forest  did  not  hurt  them ;  the  new  experiences 
rather  developed  their  power. 

Virginia  was  begun  as  a  settlement  as  early  as  1607,  thirteen 

years  before  the   Mayflower  reached    Plymouth   Rock.      The 

ancestors  of  Jefferson  were  some  of  the  early  comers.     They 

took  up  large  landed  estates,  and  became  thrifty  and  influential. 

Peter  Jefferson,  the  father  of  Thomas,  was  born  February 

119 


120  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

29,  1708.  His  early  education  was  neglected,  but  he  made  it 
up  as  well  as  he  could,  by  much  reading  and  intelligent  obser- 
vation. He  learned  surveying,  and  did  much  good  service  in 
that  line  in  the  early  days  of  Virginia.  He  was  the  intimate 
friend  of  William  Randolph,  of  Tuckahoe,  and  the  preferred 
suitor  for  the  hand  of  the  oldest  daughter  of  Isham  Randolph. 
Three  years  before  he  was  married  he  "patented/'  as  it  was 
called,  a  thousand  acres  of  land  on  the  James  river,  which 
included  the  tract  and  hill  since  called  Monticello,  and  went 
about  preparing  for  a  home.  He  Avas  married  to  Jane  Ran- 
dolph in  1738.  The  Randolphs  were  English  people  of  opu- 
lence and  high  standing.  They  were  educated  and  influential ; 
had  large  landed  estates;  kept  up  old  English  customs  prevalent 
among  the  gentry,  and  did  what  they  could  to  renew  old 
England  in  America.  It  was  their  expectation  to  see  great 
estates  and  rich  scenes  of  opulence  and  taste  all  over  the  rich 
Virginia  lands. 

Peter  Jefferson  was  a  strong,  large,  independent,  honest  and 
warm-hearted  man.  He  had  cultivated  a  strong  taste  for  litera- 
ture, and  read  many  of  the  old  poets  with  hearty  appreciation. 

Thomas  Jefferson,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  born  April 
2,  1743,  and  was  the  third  child,  Jane  and  Mary  being  older. 
Six  other  children  constituted  the  family  group. 

HIS   EDUCATION. 

At  five  years  old  he  was  sent  to  an  English  school,  in  which 
he  learned  the  rudiments  of  an  education.  An  evidence  of  an 
early  activity  of  his  mind  is  given,  of  his  remembering  Avhen  two 
years  old  of  being  handed  up  on  a  pillow  to  a  slave  and  being 
carried  on  horseback  when  the  family  moved  to  Tuckahoe  for  a 
time.  A  year  or  two  later  he  remembered,  when  his  dinner  was 
delayed,  of  going  out  and  repeating  the  Lord's  prayer,  in  the 
hope  of  sooner  getting  his  dinner.  Few  memories  go  back  even 
to  the  third  year. 

At  nine  years  old,  on  the  return  of  the  family  to  Shadwell, 
their  home,  he  was  placed  in  the  school  of  Mr.  Douglas,  a  Scotch 


THOMAS   JEFFERSON.  121 

clergyman,  who  taught  him  in  Latin,  Greek  and  French.  While 
here  his  father  died,  leaving  him  at  fourteen  years  of  age  to  the 
sole  care  of  his  mother.  This  is  another  instance  of  a  widow's 
son  rising  to  greatness  and  worth,  by  the  inspiration  and  help 
of  a  mother's  wisdom  and  love.  It  is  recorded  of  her  that  she 
was  a  beautiful  and  accomplished  woman;  cheerful,  with  a  fund 
of  humor  and  fond  of  Avriting  letters.  Well  educated  as  she  was 
for  her  time,  with  these  things  related  of  her,  it  is  evident  that 
the  literary  talent  was  in  her,  though  developed  only  in  her 
friendly  letters.  As  both  father  and  mother  gave  evidence  of 
literary  taste,  and  both  belonged  to  strong  families,  and  the 
mother  especially  to  one  of  the  most  intellectual  and  vigorous 
families  in  the  colony,  it  is  clear  that  on  grounds  of  heredity  it 
would  be  reasonable  to  expect  good  literary  abilities  in  their 
children.  Thomas  showed  a  combination  of  the  physical  and 
intellectual  qualities  of  both  parents.  His  father  was  large  and 
muscular;  his  mother  slender  and  fine-fibered.  He  was  tall, 
slender,  agile  and  closely  made.  He  had  his  father's  strength 
and  his  mother's  fiber  and  endurance.  From  the  accounts  given 
of  the  two,  Thomas  was  a  genuine  combination  of  the  leading 
qualities  of  both. 

Added  to  this  favorable  heredity  bias  toward  literary  pur- 
suits, there  was  the  early  training  in  language,  having  begun 
Latin,  Greek  and  French  as  early  as  nine  years  of  age.  To  his 
susceptible  and  imaginative  nature,  this  early  training  in  lan- 
guage must  have  given  a  strong  bent  toward  a  close  observation 
of  the  elegance  and  finish  and  force  of  complete  forms  of  speech, 
and  an  appreciation  of  the  thought  .couched  in  what  he  read. 
Books  early  became  his  boon  companions.  Their  thoughts  be- 
camo  his  thoughts.  The  humor,  piquancy,  liveliness  of  his 
mother,  must  have  acted  on  the  strong  talent  received  from  both 
parents,  as  yeast  in  bread,  to  give  it  ferment,  stir  and  uplift. 
He  drew  nourishment  from  her  brain  as  well  as  breast.  Brainy 
forces  went  into  his  original  make-up,  and  brainy  influences  were 
about  him  from  the  beginning. 

Still  more:  when  his  father  died,  he  left  the  request  that 
Thomas  should  be  sent  to  college,  so  that  from  that  time  the 


122  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

boy's  mind  began  to  shape  itself  to  this  course,  and  familiarize 
itself  with  its  coming  career. 

With  his  strong  and  delicate  nature,  and  the  early  influences 
that  educated  him,  it  is  easy  to  see  that  he  must  grow  up  to  be 
a  sort  of  natural  harp  through  which  the  winds  of  a  revolu- 
tionary period  would  blow  to  make  strong  and  stirring  music. 
He  was  born  to  be  a  force  in  the  world. 

His  father  was  a  surveyor,  and  traversed  all  the  valleys  and 
hills  of  that  fine  country  on  foot.  He  became  a  footman  of  the 
woods,  and  learned  to  love  their  wild  retreats.  He  had,  too, 
the  hunter's  eye  and  taste,  and  led  his  son  to  find  health  and 
delight  in  the.  woods  and  on  the  mountains.  This  gave  him  an 
intimate  acquaintance  with  nature,  and  filled  his  mind  with 
figures  and  forces  which  much  enriched  his  literary  and  intel- 
lectual work  in  after  years. 

The  loss  of  his  father,  doubtless,  deeply  impressed  his  young 
mind,  and  the  intimacy  with  his  mother  after  he  was  thrown 
wholly  upon  her  for  counsel  and  guidance,  further  deepened  his 
thoughtfulness,  and  ripened  and  enriched  his  character.  With 
such  a  constitution,  the  circumstances  which  surrounded  his 
early  life  did  much  to  educate  and  develop  him. 

In  1760  he  entered  William  and  Mary  college  at  Williams- 
burg.  This  town  was  then  the  capital  of  the  colony,  the  seat  of 
learning,  and  the  gathering  place  of  the  dignity,  learning,  and 
worth  of  Virginia.  It  gave  him  an  opportunity  to  be  for  awhile 
in  this  center  of  the  leading  men  of  the  times  in  this  oldeet 
English  colony  in  America  and  to  form  the  acquaintance  of  som3 
of  them.  The  educating  influence  of  great  men  on  susceptible 
and  ambitious  youth,  is  very  great. 

On  his  way  to  Williamsburg  he  spent  a  few  days  at  the 
residence  of  Colonel  Nathan  Dandridge,  and  made  the  acquaint- 
ance of  Patrick  Henry,  then  a  young  man  who  had  failed  as  a 
merchant  and  was  idling  away  his  time  in  the  vicinity  of  his 
home  in  the  frolics  and  dances  of  the  young  people,  and  in  fish- 
ing, hunting  and  story  telling.  "His  passion,"  said  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son of  him  afterward,  "was  fiddling,  dancing  and  pleasantry." 
Jefferson  was  fond  of  the  violin,  the  dance,  and  every  social 


THOMAS   JEFFERSON.  123 

pleasantry.  Now,  at  seventeen,  the  quaint,  piquant,  brilliant, 
half-philosopher,  half  vagrant  young  man  Henry,  had  many 
charms  for  him.  They  were  much  unlike,  but  there  were  deep 
points  of  similarity,  which  "made  them  friends  for  life.  Not 
many  months  afterward,  Mr.  Henry  called  on  Jefferson  and 
informed  him  that  he  had  studied  law,  and  was  at  the  capital  to 
obtain  a  license  to  practice,  indicating  the  quickness  with  which 
great  things  were  done  in  those  early  days. 

Jefferson  was  admitted  to  an  advanced  class  in  college  and 
continued  there  two  years.  Williamsburg  had  many  attractions 
for  him  the  first  year  which  interfered  somewhat  with  his  study; 
but  the  second  year  he  gave  himself  to  unremitting  work,  study- 
ing fifteen  hours  a  day  and  making  rapid  progress. 

As  a  student  he  was  about  equally  fond  of  mathematics  and 
the  classics,  both  of  which  branches  of  learning  he  continued  to 
pursue,  more  or  less,  through  life.  He  became  a  good  Latin  and 
Greek  scholar,  and  read  many  ancient  works  in  these  ancient 
languages.  He  became  familiar  with  written  French;  learned 
something  of  Anglo-Saxon,  Spanish  and  German.  His  early 
literary  inclinations  became  more  and  more  established,  till 
early  in  his  life  he  became  a  general  scholar  for  his  times,  and  a 
devoted  friend  of  books  as  well  as  men.  \ 

His  mathematical  professor  in  college  was  Doctor  Samuel 
Small,  who  soon  conceived  a  great  interest  in  young  Jefferson, 
and  not  only  instructed  him  with  great  care,  but  made  him  a 
personal  friend  and  companion,  and  did  much  to  shape  his  life. 
Indeed,  Mr.  Jefferson  said,  late  in  life,  that  the  instruction  and 
intercourse  of  Doctor  Small  "probably  fixed  the  destinies  of  his 
life." 

In  his  youth  he  was  away  from  home  and  among  strangers, 
with  none  to  guard  or  counsel  him,  and  late  in  life  he  wrote  of 
of  this  to  a  young  relative  similarly  situated:  "I  had  the  good 
fortune  to  become  acquainted  very  early  with  some  characters  of 
very  high  standing,  and  to  feel  the  incessant  wish  that  I  could 
ever  become  what  they  were.  Under  temptations  and  difficulties, 
I  would  ask  myself :  What  would  Doctor  Small,  Mr.  Wythe 
or  Peyton  Randolph  do  in  this  situation?  What  course  in  it  will 


124  OUR    PRESIDENTS. 

insure  me  their  approbation?  I  am  certain  that  this  mode  of 
deciding  on  my  conduct,  tended  more  to  correctness  than  any 
reasoning  powers  I  possessed.  Knowing  the  even  and  dignified 
line  they  pursued,  I  could  never  doubt  for  a  moment  which  of 
two  courses  would  be  in  character  for  them."  *  *  *  "Be 
assured,  my  young  friend,  that  these  little  returns  into  ourselves, 
this  self -catechising  habit,  is  not  trifling  nor  useless,  but  leads 
to  the  prudent  selection  and  steady  pursuit  of  what  is  right." 

Here  is  a  hint  at  the  shaping  influences  of  his  early  life;  they 
came  from  men  whom  he  knew  to  respect  and  honor,  from 
teachers  whom  he  loved,  from  characters  whose  course  of  life 
had  the  approval  of  the  good  and  true.  In  the  same  letter,  he 
says:  "I  was  often  thrown  into  the  society  of  horse-racers,  card- 
players,  fox-hunters,  scientific  and  professional  men,  and  of  dig- 
nified men;  and  many  a  time  have  I  asked  myself,  in  the 
enthusiastic  moment  of  the  death  of  a  fox,  the  victory  »of  a 
favorite  horse,  the  issue  of  a  question  eloquently  argued  at  the 
bar,  or  in  the  great  council  of  the  nation:  Well,  which  of  these 
kinds  of  reputation  shall  I  prefer?  That  of  a  horse-jockey,  a 
fox-hunter,  an  orator,  or  the  honest  advocate  of  my  country's 
rights?"  Here  was  the  young  man  settling  his  own  destiny,  in 
the  midst  of  all  sorts  of  characters  which  he  might  choose  for 
models.  He  loved  the  fleet  horse,  the  chase,  the  social 
pleasantry?  He  was  fond  of  physical  sports,  the  dance,  the 
wild-wood  ramble.  He  saw  men  before  him  giving  their  lives  to 
such  things.  Should  he  do  likewise?  He  loved  books  also,  and 
saw  the  glory  of  a  noble  life,  and  men  about  him  who  were 
examples  of  right  living  and  manly  dignity.  Should  he  follow 
them?  When  a  young  man  seriously  debated  such  questions  in 
his  mind,  could  there  be  much  doubt  as  to  which  way  he  would 
decide  to  go? 

This  was  the  formative  period  of  his  character.  He  had 
been  well  reared  and  instructed  in  his  home  and  church,  which 
was  the  church  of  England;  he  was  warm-hearted,  enthusiastic, 
social,  imaginative;  he  was  healthy,  strong,  buoyant  in  spirit; 
now  he  had  met  the  world  in  all  its  characters,  and  the  question 
had  come  to  him:  With  what  class  shall  I  identify  myself? 


THOMAS   JEFFERSON.  125 

After  leaving  college,  through  the  aid  of  Dr.  Small  he 
entered  the  law  office  of  George  Wythe,  and  became  the 
acquaintance  and  friend  of  Governor  Fauquier,  one  of  the  ablest 
men  of  that  time.  He  mentions  in  his  memoir,  that  he  and 
Wythe  and  Doctor  Small  often  dined  with  the  governor,  forming 
a  social  quartette,  and  that  "to  these  habitual  conversations  he 
owed  much  instruction."  It  seems  clear  that  to  good  books  and 
good  men,  Jefferson  was  much  indebted.  They  did  much  to 
make  him.  Yet  he  had  the  wisdom  to  choose  to  be  educated 
and  directed  by  them. 

Governor  Fauquier  made  him  a  companion  of  all  hours;  they 
practiced  on  musical  instruments  together  and  talked  on  gay 
and  serious  subjects  as  though  equals, — one  the  acknowledged 
great  man  and  gentleman  of  the  state,  the  other  a  youth  of 
twenty-one.  This  intimacy  indicates  an  early  developement  of 
talent  and  manly  power,  and  a  personal  magnetism  above  his 
years,  in  young  Jefferson. 

George  Wythe  was  one  of  the  most  erudite  and  accomplished 
lawyers  of  his  day,  and  young  Jefferson  felt  himself  happy  in 
enjoying  his  instruction  and  companionship.  Jefferson's  exten- 
sive reading  of  the  best  authors;  his  fine  manners,  and  cheerful, 
social  enthusiasm,  won  such  friends  for  him.  And  there  can  be 
no  doubt  but  the  bright  promise  of  his  coming  career  was 
reflected  to  these  men,  in  his  unusual  Avisdom  and  brilliancy. 

To  the  study  of  law  he  gave  five  years.  If  his  college  course 
was  short,  his  law  course  was  long,  and  he  made  it  a  thorough 
study.  The  summers  he  spent  at  Shadwell,  his  home,  and  the 
winters  at  Williamsburg;  and  at  both  places  kept  up  his  rigid 
college  habits  of  studying  fifteen  hours  a  day.  No  native 
talents,  no  brilliancy  of  mind  or  favoring  opportunity,  made 
him  the  man  he  ca'me  to  be  without  hard  study.  Till  he  was 
twenty-four  he  plied  the  work  of  his  education  with  diligence 
and  plodding  fidelity. 

PERSONAL   APPEARANCE. 

He  was  tall  and  slender  in  comparison,  standing  six  feet  two 
inches  in  height.  His  face,  though  angular  and  far  from  beau- 


126  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

tiful,  beamed  with  intelligence,  with  benevolence,  and  with  the 
cheerful  vivacity  of  a  happy,  hopeful  spirit.  His  complexion  was 
ruddy  and  fair ;  his  hair  was  chestnut,  of  a  reddish  tinge,  fine 
and  soft ;  his  eyes  of  a  hazel  gray.  He  was  lithe,  active,  grace- 
ful. His  manners  were  simple  and  cordial.  In  conversation  he 
was  peculiarly  agreeable,  so  much  so,  that  in  later  years  his 
enemies  attributed  to  him  a  seductive  influence  through  his  art 
and  charm  of  speech.  Possessing  the  accomplishments,  he 
avoided  the  vices  of  the  young  Virginia  gentry  of  the  day.  He 
did  not  gamble  ;  or  drink  ;  or  use  tobacco ;  or  swear.  He  had 
an  aversion  to  strong  drink,  and  was  temperate  at  the  table. 
With  frankness,  heartiness,  humane  sympathies  and  sanguine 
hopefulness,  he  had  strong  personal  influence  over  those  who 
came  near  him.  This  was  Thomas  Jefferson  at  twenty-four, 
when  he  entered  upon  the  practice  of  law. 

MR.  JEFFERSON   A    LAWYER. 

In  1767,  Mr.  Jefferson  was  admitted  to  the  practice  of  law  at 
the  bar  of  his  native  state.  He  was  well  prepared  for  his  pro- 
fession and  met  with  success  at  once.  His  excellent  connection 
with  the  good  families  of  Virginia,  his  inherited  fortune  and  his 
good  personal  bearing,  gave  him  his  business.  His  register  of  cases 
shows  sixty-eight  for  1767;  one  hundred  and  fifteen  for  1768; 
one  hundred  and  ninety-eight  for  1769;  one  hundred  and 
twenty-one  for  1770;  one  hundred  and  thirty-seven  for  1771; 
one  hundred  and  fifty-four  for  1772;  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
seven  for  1773;  twenty-nine  for  1774.  It  is  probable  that  the 
troublesome  times  affected  all  business.  These  were  his  cases  in 
the  general  court.  He  had  much  otlfer  legal  business,  accord- 
ing to  the  records  left  in  his  own  writing.  He  had  a  strong 
legal  mind  which  was  recognized  at  once.  While  in  the  study 
and  practice  of  law  he  made  a  collection  of  most  of  the  early 
statutes  of  Virginia,  and  preserved  them  for  later  uses. 

It  was  a  habit  of  his  to  classify  his  knowledge,  his  business, 
and  multitudes  of  little  matters  that  most  men  would  not  think 
worth  the  time  of  writing.  His  account  books,  keeping  the 
items  for  different  articles  separately,  as  for  meat,  bread,  etc. ; 


THOMAS   JEFFEESOJST.  127 

his  expenses,  the  number  of  persons  in  his  family,  the  details  of 
all  his  business  —  agricultural,  legal,  domestic  —  show  a  mind 
wonderfully  given  to  a  close  observation  of  little  things.  He 
left  an  account  carefully  arranged  and  kept,  of  the  earliest  and 
latest  appearance  in  the  Washington  market  of  thirty-seven 
different  kinds  of  vegetables,  during  the  whole  eight  years  of 
his  presidency.  His  garden  book,  farming  book,  weather 
record,  expense  accounts,  notes  on  natural  history,  on  Virginia, 
on  reading,  on  legal  study,  and  on  almost  everything  that  passed 
before  him,  show  a  remarkable  interest  in  details.  Had  it  not 
been  for  a  fire  which  consumed  his  library  and  many  of  his  pri- 
vate records,  it  is  supposed  he  would  have  left  almost  his  whole 
life  in  minute  details.  This  not  only  indicates  close  powers  of 
observation,  but  readiness  to  labor  industriously  to  keep  such 
extended  accounts. 

ME.  JEFFEESON  A   LEGISLATOE. 

In  17G9,  Mr.  Jefferson  was  elected  a  member  of  the  House 
of  Burgesses.  Lord  Botetourt  had  now  become  governor.  He 
opened  the  House  with  the  customary  address.  Mr.  Jefferson, 
at  the  request  of  some  of  the  older  members,  drew  the  respond- 
ing resolutions. 

The  House  passed  spirited  resolutions  on  the  action  of  Par- 
liament in  relation  to  Massachusetts.  It  reasserted  the  exclu- 
sive right  of  taxation  in  the  colonies,  their  right  to  petition  for 
a  redress  of  grievances,  and  to  procure  the  concurrence  of  the 
other  colonies  therein.  The  House  also  remonstrated  against 
the  proposition  in  Parliament  to  transport  to  England  for  trial 
persons  in  the  colonies  charged  with  treason. 

The  governor,  on  hearing  Avhat  the  House  had  done,  without 
waiting  for  official  statements,  dissolved  the  assembly.  The 
following  day  the  members  met  at  the  Apollo,  the  large  hall  of 
the  Raleigh  tavern,  and  entered  into  an  association,  pledging 
themselves  during  the  continuance  of  the  act  for  raising  revenue 
in  America,  not  to  import  or  purchase  or  use  British  merchan- 
dise ;  and  they  recommended  their  constituents  to  join  them  in 
this  pledge.  •* 


128  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

Mr.  Jefferson  was  one  of  the  largest  slave  owners  in  Virginia, 
yet  among  the  earliest  movements  he  made  was  a  proposition 
for  the  gradual  emancipation  of  the  slaves,  but  it  was  voted 
down  by  a  strong  majority.  His  humanity  and  political  wis- 
dom were  manifest  in  this  proposition.  He  had  many  sympa- 
thizers in  Virginia  at  that  time,  in  his  disbelief  in  slavery. 
Washington  was  one  of  them.  From  that  time  on  this  began  to 
be  a  subject  of  serious  thought  with  many  just  minds. 

JEFFERSON   NOT  A   SPEAKER. 

Though  a  fluent,  graceful  conversationalist,  and  believed  by 
his  political  enemies,  later  in  life,  to  have  almost  seductive 
charms  in  this  way,  and  though  a  most  accomplished  and  vigor- 
ous writer,  he  yet  was  not  a  public  speaker.  It  is  said  that 
some  defect  in  his  vocal  organs  made  his  throat  dry  and  husky 
after  a  little  while,  so  that  his  speaking  became  painful  to  him 
as  well  as  to  those  who  heard  him. 

It  is  not  often  that  the  talent  for  speaking  and  writing  is 
found  in  any  marked  degree  in  the  same  individual.  They  are 
separate  talents,  and  for  their  marked  expression  require  very 
different  powers.  Writing  is  a  work  of  seclusion,  done  with 
deliberation,  care,  precision,  with  the  mind  bent  upon  accuracy, 
detail,  elegance,  finish,  completeness.  It  depends  solely  on  the 
power,  furnishing  and  taste  of  the  writer.  He  writes  out  of 
himself.  His  inspiration  is  in  his  theme  and  his  own  soul.  If 
he  is  full  of  and  on  fire  with  his  subject,  he  writes  to  instruct, 
warn  and  captivate  his  reader. 

Speaking  is  a  public  act,  in  which  the  occasion,  the  audience, 
the  voice,  the  face,  the  whole  physical  man,  enters  in  to  form  a 
part  of  the  moving  power.  Often  passion  commands  the  hour, 
and  summoning  all  the  powers  to  its  service,  moves  upon  its 
point  of  attack  with  a  sort  of  dashing,  stunning,  overwhelming 
force. 

Mr.  Jefferson  was  the  careful  student,  the  close,  pains- 
taking thinker,  who,  from  wide  observation  of  facts,  drew  his 
conclusions  and  arranged  them  into  orderly  systems. 


THOMAS   JEFFERSON.  129 

Had  his  voice  been  all  right,  it  is  not  likely  he  would  have 
spoken  with  great  power.  His  mind  was  organized  to  express 
itself  with  the  pen  rather  than  with  the  tongue.  And  had  his 
mind  been  formed  for  the  orator,  it  is  altogether  likely  that  his 
voice  would  have  responded  loyally,  and  his  parched  throat 
would  have  been  oiled  and  active  in  the  service  of  his  mind. 

No  contrast  between  the  speaker  and  writer  was  ever  more 
sharply  drawn  than  between  Mr.  Jefferson  and  his  friend, 
Patrick  Henry. 

LOSS   BY   FIRE. 

On  the  first  of  February,  1770,  the  family  mansion  at  Shad- 
well,  "with  every  paper  he  had  in  the  world  and  almost  every 
book/'  and  all  his  father's  papers  and  books,  was  consumed  by 
fire.  Had  it  been  their  cost-value  in  money,  he  said,  "it  would 
not  have  cost  me  a  sigh." 

Later  in  life  he  was  wont  to  have  his  facetious  story  over  this 
fire,  as  the  news  was  brought  to  him  by  one  of  his  negroes. 

"But,  were  none  of  my  books  saved?"  he  asked.  "No, 
massa,"  was  the  doleful  reply;  "but,"  with  a  quick  brightening 
face,  he  said,  "tve  saved  de  fiddle." 

The  fiddle  was  dear  to  Mr.  Jefferson,  not  only  because  he 
loved  its  music,  but  because  it  was  intimately  associated  with 
his  sister  Jane,  the  eldest  of  the  family  who  had  died  some  five 
years  before,  at  about  twenty-five  years  of  age.  He  regarded  her 
as  a  person  of  a  very  superior  mind  and  of  great  excellence  of 
character.  She  was  almost  his  constant  companion  in  the  later 
years  of  her  life.  She  shared  much  of  his  study  and  reading, 
held  similar  opinions  and  had  kindred  sentiments.  She  was 
devout  and  loved  her  church,  the  church  of  England  in  which 
they  were  brought  up,  and  was  an  excellent  singer.  He  was  a 
good  bass  singer,  and  entered  heartily  into  much  of  the  music  of 
his  church,  which  he  believed  was  the  best  in  the  world.  This 
music  they  sang  much  together  accompanied  with  his  violin. 
It  was  their  practice  to  go  often  into  some  grove,  or  quiet 
natural  retreat,  and  sing  their  favorite  pieces,  enjoy  together 
the  natural  scenery,  and  what  was  more  to  them,  enjoy  e.ach 
9 


130  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

other's  society.  This  violin  saved  from  the  fire,  was  a  perpetual 
reminder  of  his  sister  and  those  halcyon  seasons  of  sacred  affec- 
tion and  communion. 

The  year  before  the  loss  of  the  old  family  mansion,  Mr. 
Jefferson  had  begun  to  build  a  residence  for  himself  on  Monti- 
cello,  a  portion  or-wing  of  what  was  afterward  his  famous  house. 
Into  that  a  part  of  the  family  went,  and  the  rest  into  the  over- 
seer's house. 

MARRIAGE. 

New  Year's  day,  1772,  was  made  memorable  to  Thomas 
Jefferson  and  Mrs.  Martha  Skelton,  by  their  marriage.  She 
was  the  youthful  widow  of  Bathurst  Skelton,  Esq.,  and  daugh- 
ter of  John  Wayles,  a  lawyer  of  eminence  in  his  time.  She  is 
represented  by  the  annalists  of  the  time  as  beautiful,  accom- 
plished and  sensible ;  as  being  a  fine  singer,  &,nd  playing  skill- 
fully on  the  spinet  and  harpsichord  ;  as  joining  her  voice  with 
Jefferson's  and  her  instruments  with  his  violin  to  produce  the 
music  in  which  their  souls  flowed  together;  as  having  many 
suitors  and  great  wealth,  bringing  to  him  a  fortune  fully  equal 
to  his  own.  On  the  day  of  their  marriage  there  was  a  snow 
storm  which  thickened  as  they  went,  so  that  the  last  eight  miles 
of  their  journey  had  to  be  made  on  horse-back,  after  dark  and 
alone.  They  reached  Monticello  through  two  feet  of  snow, 
after  the  servants  were  all  abed  and  the  house  cold,  to  find  no 
supper,  no  welcome,  no  light  or  fire,  and  only  such  cheer  as 
their  young  hearts  could  produce.  But  chilly  and  forbidding 
as  was  the  beginning  of  their  wedded  life,  they  turned  it  all  into 
the  joy  of  triumph  and  made  a  world  for  each  other  that  was 
full  of  sunshine  and  success.  Such  is  the  mystery  of  young  love. 

Their  united  fortunes  made  them  wealthy.  His  estate  was 
five  thousand  acres  and  hers  forty  thousand  acres;  but  hers  was 
so  encumbered  with  debts  that  he  had  to  sell  much  of  it  to  own 
it  clear.  He  had  forty-two  slaves  and  she  one  hundred  and 
thirty-five.  He  had  an  income,  before  his  marriage,  of  five 
thousand  dollars  a  year.  His  income  after  was  uncertain  till 
he  had  cleared  her  tstate  of  its  indebtedness.  This  condition  of 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  131 

his  affairs  for  a  few  years,  gave  opportunity  for  his  political 
enemies  to  make  capital  against  him  as  a  bad  financier.  He 
seems  to  have  been  a  sagacious  business  man  ;  orderly  in  his 
habits;  prompt  and  exact  in  his  dealings ;  careful  in  expendi- 
tures, yet  generous  according  to  his  circumstances;  keeping 
always  exact  records  of  all  his  affairs  to  the  smallest  details. 

It  is  clear  to  see  from  the  style  of  life  in  which  he  and  his 
associates  were  reared,  that  colonial  Virginia,  and  that  whole 
sections  of  America,  was  looked  to  from  England  as  a  new  and 
ample  field  for  the  extension  of  the  great  English  estates  ;  for 
the  broadening  and  enriching  of  the  English  aristocracy;  for  an 
increased  support  of  the  English  crown,  and  a  safe  depository  of 
English  power.  Mr.  Jefferson's  debts  to  be  paid  were  chiefly  in 
England;  his  business  was  largely  with  England  ;  and  so  was  that 
of  all  the  great  southern  estates.  The  people  got  their  styles 
of  life  from  England.  Society  in  Virginia  \vas  a  transcript  of 
society  in  England. 

Under  these  circumstances,  it  was  not  to  be  expected  that 
democracy  would  spring  up  in  Virginia;  that  popular  govern- 
ment would  find  its  stout  advocates  in  the  House  of  Burgesses 
and  on  the  great  estates  of  the  Old  Dominion;  that  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  old  and  wealthy  families  of  England  settled  in 
America  would  dissent  from  the  English  view  of  government, 
and  become  the  enthusiastic  leaders  of  a  republican  order  of 
society.  But  so  it  turned  out.  The  newness  and  freedom  of 
American  life  gave  a  new  order  of  manhood;  produced  new 
thinkers  and  actors;  developed  a  new  philosophy  of  society  and 
humanity,  and  led  American  intelligence  and  justice  ^  see  the 
defects  in  the  English  society  and  administration  of  govern- 
ment. And  these  men  of  the  largest  calibre,  like  Washington 
and  Jefferson,  though  inheriting  most  from  England,  were 
among  the, first  to  see  the  English  faults. 

Among  the  things  they  first  deprecated  in  their  new  society 
was  human  slavery.  They  felt  its  injustice  and  foresaw  its  dire- 
ful evils,  and  they  sought  its  gradual  abolition,  but  were  over- 
ruled. Had  Jefferson's  proposition  in  the  House  of  Burgesses 
to  that  effect  been  accepted,  and  slavery  in  Virginia  gone  out  as 


132  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

it  did  in  New  York  and  New  England,  the  United  States  would 
have  been  double  gainers  by  their  independence  ;  the  great 
hindering  evils  of  slavery  would  have  been  avoided;  the  section- 
alism of  our  experience  would  not  have  been  known  ;  and  the 
great  civil  war  and  its  terrific  loss  of  property,  energy  and  life, 
would  not  have  been.  Jefferson  was  called  the  philosopher  in 
his  day;  and  the  worth  of  his  philosophy  is  far  clearer  now  than 
it  was  to  most  people  then. 

He  is  a  proof  that  men  do  sometimes  rise  above  their  circum- 
stances ;  that  humanity  may  grow  to  be  a  powerful  and  con- 
trolling sentiment  in  the  midst  of  slavery;  that  democracy  may 
have  a  vigorous  development  in  the  midst  of  aristocratic 
surroundings. 

THE  APPROACHING   CONFLICT. 

The  House  of  Burgesses  met  in  the  spring  of  1773.  An  event 
had  just  occurred  to  arouse  such  alert  souls  as  Jefferson's  to  a 
sense  of  danger  to  come.  The  Gasper,  a  British  vessel,  sta- 
tioned in  Narraganset  bay  to  enforce  the  obnoxious  revenue  laws, 
had  been  decoyed  aground,  and  burned.  Parliament  immedi- 
ately passed  an  act  "for  the  better  securing  of  His  Majesty's 
ships,  docks,  etc.,"  which  made  punishable  with  death  the  least 
harm  done  to  anything  pertaining  to  the  British  marine  service, 
and  the  transportation  for  trial  of  any  one  accused  of  such 
harm.  Against  such  transportation  Jefferson  had  offered  a 
resolution  in  1769.  Now  he  joined  with  Patrick  Henry,  the 
Lees  and  Mr.  Carr,  his  brother-in-law,  to  offer  a  series  of  reso- 
lutions against  the  injustice  of  such  transportation,  and  against 
all  laws  "tending  to  deprive  the  colonies  of  their  ancient,  legal 
and  constitutional  rights,"  and  in  favor  of  seeking  the  earliest 
information  of  what  parliament  should  do,  and  of  appointing  a 
committee  of  correspondence  with  the  other  colonies,  to  act  in 
unison  in  opposition  to  British  aggression,  and  especially 
instructing  the  pommittee  of  correspondence  "to  inform  them- 
selves particularly  of  the  principles  and  authority  on  which  was 
constituted  a  court  of  inquiry,  said  to  have  been  lately  held  in 
Rhode  Island,  with  powers  to  transport  Dersons  accused  of 


THOMAS   JEFFERSON.  133 

offenses  committed  in  America  to  places  beyond  the  seas  to  be 
tried."  The  resolutions  are  supposed  to  have  been  drafted  by 
Mr.  Jefferson,  offered  in  a  very  telling  speech  by  Mr.  Carr,  and 
adopted  without  a  dissenting  vote  by  the  House.  This  was  one 
of  the  first  movements  for  a  committee  of  consultation  from  all 
the  colonies.  It  was  one  of  the  seeds  which  ripened  into  a 
Colonial  Congress. 

The  governor  immediately  dissolved  the  House.  But  the 
committee  met*the  next  day  and  prepared  a  circular  to  the 
colonies  containing  a  copy  of  the  resolutions,  with  a  request  that 
they  might  be  laid  before  their  assemblies,  and  asking  them  to 
appoint  "some  person  or  persons  of  their  respective  bodies  to 
communicate  from  time  to  time  with  the  Virginia  committee." 

Mr.  Jefferson  is  said  to  have  believed  that  this  was  the  germ 
of  colonial  union.  But  whether  it  was  or  not,  it  is  proof  of  a 
kindredness  of  sentiment,  and  a  preparedness  for  union  and 
action  in  Virginia  and  Massachusetts.  And  this  sentiment  soon 
reached  all  the  colonies. 

During  the  spring  session  of  the  Burgesses  in  1774,  the  news 
of  the  Boston  port  bill  reached  Virginia.  Mr.  Jefferson,  believ- 
ing that  something  startling  should  be  done  to  arouse  the  people 
to  a  sense  of  the  danger  to  their  liberties,  gathered  about  him  a 
few  kindred  spirits  in  consultation.  They  agreed  upon  a  reso- 
lution appointing  a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer.  And  as  the 
Boston  port  bill  was  to  go  into  operation  the  first  of  June,  they 
fixed  upon  that  day  for  a  public  fast  day.  They  consulted  with 
some  of  the  older  and  more  religious  members,  and  got  such  a 
good  understanding  that  it  was  agreed  to  without  a  dissenting 
vote.  So  on  the  day  that  the  port  of  Boston  was  blockaded  by 
British  assumption  of  power,  the  people  of  Virginia  were  pray- 
ing for  the  people  .of  Boston  and  the  preservation  of  their  liber- 
ties. Mr.  Jefferson  said :  "If  the  pulse  of  the  people  beat 
calmly  under  such  an  experiment  by  the  new  and  until  now 
unheard  of  executive  power  of  the  British  Parliament,  another 
and  another  will  be  tried,  till  the  measure  of  despotism  be 
filled  up/' 

The  governor  dissolved  the  assembly  the  next  day  after  the 


134  OUR    PRESIDENTS. 

passage  of  this  resolution.  And  the  next  day  the  -members  met 
at  the  Apollo  hall  and  talked  freely  of  English  tyranny  and 
what  should  be  done  about  it ;  and  they  talked  of  a  congress  of 
the  colonies  for  mutual  consultation.  They  further  agreed  that 
a-  convention  should  be  held  at  Williamsburg,  August  1,  to 
learn  the  result  of  the  proposed  colonial  congress,  and  if  such  a 
congress  shall  be  held,  to  appoint  delegates  to  it.  Here  was  the 
spirit  and  intelligence  of  Massachusetts  in  the  Old  Dominion. 

When  the  members  of  the  assembly  returned  to  their  homes 
they  invited  the  clergy  to  address  the  people  in  all  their 
churches  on  fast  day ;  and  they  generally  did  so,  awakening  a 
profound  interest.  Mr.  Jefferson  said  :  "  The  effect  of  the  day 
through  the  whole  colony  was  like  a  shock  of  electricity,  arous- 
ing every  man  and  placing  him  erect  and  solidly  on  his  center." 

The  freeholders  in  all  the  counties  held  meetings  to  appoint 
delegates  to  the  coming  convention  and  express  their  views  in 
resolutions. 

Mr.  Jefferson,  on  account  of  sickness,  was  unable  to  attend 
the  August  convention,  but  sent  in  "a  summary  view "  of  the 
situation  in  a  long  document,  which  Edmund  Burke,  in 
England,  styled  "A  Summary  View  of  the  Eights  of  British 
America."  It  contained  the  most  of  the  statements  afterward 
put  into  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  only  more  radically 
stated ;  and  denied  that  the  British  crown  had  any  rights  on 
American  soil,  because  the  people  of  America,  without  the  king's 
help,  have  made  it  what  it  is.  It  was  a  document  probably 
more  radical  than  anything  Otis,  Adams,  or  Henry  had  ever 
said.  In  it,  he  said  :  "  The  God  who  gave  us  life,  gave  us  lib- 
erty at  the  same  time ;  the  hand  of  force  may  destroy,  but 
cannot  disjoin  them." 

The  Colonial  Congress  met  in  Philadelphia  on  the  fourth  of 
September.  Peyton  Randolph,  one  of  Virginia's  most  accom- 
plished and  honored  citizens,  was  made  its  president. 

In  the  mean  time  nearly  all  the  counties  of  Virginia  organ- 
ized committees  of  safety.  On  the  twentieth  of  March,  1775,  a 
second  Virginia  convention  was  held  at  Eichmond.  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son was  a  member  from  his  county.  This  was  one  of  the  most 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  135 

memorable  assemblies  ever  held  on  this  continent.  It  had  many 
of  Virginia's  best  men,  such  as  Richard  H.  Lee,  Pendleton,  Bland, 
Wythe,  Nicholas,  Harrison,  Mason,  Page,  Henry,  Jefferson.  It 
was  composed  of  the  conservatives  and  radicals.  The  old  men 
of  wealth  and  dignity  were  there,  and  the  young  men  who  were 
for  forward  movements.  The  old  men  spoke  softly  of  England, 
praised  the  British  constitution,  and  talked  in  conciliatory  words, 
which  were  as  "wormwood  and  gall"  to  Patrick  Henry,  who 
rose  and  moved  that  "  the  colony  be  immediately  put  in  a  state 
of  defense,  and  that  *  *  *  be  a  committee  to  prepare  a 
plan  for  embodying,  arming  and  disciplining  such  a  number  of 
men  as  may  be  sufficient  for  that  purpose."  This  startling 
proposition  was  most  painful  to  the  old  conservative  members. 
It  sounded  like  rebellion.  The  young  members,  Lee,  Jefferson, 
Mason,  Page,  were  quick  in  its  support.  It  was  on  this  occasion 
that  Patrick  Henry  made  the  flaming  speech  which  has  immor- 
talized him.  It  was  in  support  of  his  resolution.  He  said, 
"war  is  inevitable  ;  we  must  fight/'  The  story  of  that  speech 
has  thrilled  Americans  for  a  hundred  years.  Wirt,  in  his  life  of 
Henry,  has  given  a  graphic  picture  of  the  scene  and  the  speech. 
Many  eye-and-ear  witnesses  have  described  it.  Mr.  Randall,  in 
his  life  of  Jefferson,  gives  this  account  as  related  to  him  by  an 
old  Baptist  clergyman  who  heard  it.  "Henry  rose  with  an  un- 
earthly fire  burning  in  his  eye.  He  commenced  somewhat 
calmly — but  the  smothered  excitement  began  more  and  more  to 
play  upon  his  features  and  thrill  in  the  tones  of  his  voice.  The 
tendons  of  his  neck  stood  out  white  and  rigid  'like  whipcord.' 
His  voice  rose  louder  and  louder,  until  the  walls  of  the  building 
and  all  within  them,  seemed  to  shake  and  rock  in  its  tremendous 
vibrations.  Finally  his  pale  face  and  glaring  eye  became  terri- 
ble to  look  upon.  Men  leaned  forward  in  their  seats,  with 
their  heads  strained  forward,  their  faces  pale  and  their  eyes 
glaring  like  the  speaker's.  His  last  exclamation,  '  Give  me 
liberty  or  give  me  death,'  was  like  the  shout  of  a  leader  which 
turns  back  the  rout  of  battle  ! " 

The  old  clergyman  said  when  Mr.  Henry  sat  down,  "he  (the 
auditor)  'felt  sick  with  excitement.'  Every  eye  gazed  entranced 


136  OUR    PRESIDENTS. 

on  Henry.  It  seemed  as  if  a  word  from  him  would  have  led  to 
any  wild  explosion  of  violence.  Men  looked  beside  themselves." 
Wirt  in  his  account  of  it,  says:  "Richard  H.  Lee  arose  and  sup- 
ported Mr.  Henry  with  his  usual  spirit  and  elegance.  But  his 
melody  was  lost  amid  the  agitations  of  that  ocean  which  the 
master  spirit  of  the  storm  had  lifted  upon  high.  That  super- 
natural voice  still  sounded  in  their  ears  and  shivered  along  their 
arteries.  They  heard  in  every  pause  the  cry  of  liberty  or  death. 
They  became  impatient  of  speech.  Their  souls  were  on  fire  for 
action." 

Mr.  Henry's  resolution  for  arming  the  colony  was  passed  by 
a  decided  majority;  and  he,  George  Washington  and  Thomas 
Jefferson  were  put  on  the  committee,  with  others,  to  carry  out 
its  provisions.  The  committee  reported  a  plan  on  the  twenty- 
fifth  of  March,  and  the  convention  accepted  it. 

The  convention  chose  Mr.  Jefferson  to  fill  the  place  of  Pey- 
ton Randolph  in  the  next  Colonial  Congress. 

On  the  night  of  the  twentieth  of  April,  1775,  a  British  armed 
vessel  lying  in  the  James  river,  by  order  of  Governor  Dunmore, 
entered  AVilliamsburg  and  carried  off  all  the  powder  in  the  maga- 
zine. This  awakened  much  feeling.  It  was  clone  two  days  after 
the  battle  of  Lexington,  the  news  of  which  soon  came,  to  verify 
Henry's  speech  and  to  call  many  Virginians  to  arms. 

On  the  first  of  June,  the  House  of  Burgesses  was  convened  to 
consider  Lord  North's  "conciliatory  proposition."  Peyton  Ran- 
dolph returned  from  the  Colonial  Congress  to  preside,  and  Mr.  Jef- 
ferson had  been  elected  to  supply  his  place ;  but  Mr.  Randolph  was 
anxious  that  Mr.  Jefferson  should  draft  a  reply  to  Lord  North. 
This  reply  rings  with  the  spirit  of  all  Mr.  Jefferson's  great  state 
papers  of  that  great  period. 

The  eleventh  of  June,  1775,  Mr.  Jefferson  took  his  seat  in 
Congress.  He  was  greeted  with  great  cordiality.  He  was  then 
but  little  past  thirty-two  years  of  age.  His  fame  as  a  writer  had 
gone  before  him.  His  "  Summary  of  the  Rights  of  British 
America,"  the  "  Albemarle  Resolutions,"  and  other  convention 
papers,  had  stirred  the  whole  country ;  and  now  he  brought  with 
him  his  reply  to  Lord  North,  more  full  than  anything  he  had 


THOMAS   JEFFEKSON".  137 

written.  All  the  most  advanced  members  received  him  with 
open  arms.  John  Adams  said  of  him:  "Mr.  Jefferson  had  the 
reputation  of  a  masterly  pen";  and  again,  "he  brought  with 
him  a  reputation  for  literature,  science,  and  a  happy  talent  for 
composition."  Of  him,  as  a  member,  Mr.  Adams  says:  "Though 
a  silent  member  in  Congress,  he  was  so  prompt,  frank,  explicit, 
and  decisive  upon  committees  and  in  conversation — not  even 
Samuel  Adams  was  more  so — that  he  soon  seized  upon  my  heart." 

Five  days  after  Mr.  Jefferson  took  his  seat,  he  was  appointed 
on  a  committee  to  draft  a  declaration  of  the  causes  of  taking  up 
arms.  He  made  a  draft,  but  it  was  too  radical  to  please  John 
Dickinson,  also  a  member  of  the  committee.  So  Mr.  Dickinson 
recast  it,  making  it  new  with  the  exception  of  the  last  four  par- 
agraphs. Mr.  Jefferson  was  one  of  the  most  advanced  thinkers 
and  actors,  while  Mr.  Dickinson  was  very  conservative ;  and  yet 
they  were  intimate  friends  to  the  close  of  their  lives. 

Lord  North's  "conciliatory  proposition "  came  before  Con- 
gress for  its  answer.  A  committee  was  appointed  to  draft  an 
answer  July  22.  Benjamin  Franklin,  Thomas  Jefferson,  John 
Adams  and  Eichard  H.  Lee  were  made  that  committee.  The 
committee  chose  Jefferson  to  draft  the  answer.  It  constitutes 
another  of  his  great  state  papers,  and  was  the  last  great  state- 
ment of  the  differences  between  America  and  England  by  way 
of  conciliation.  Up  to  this  time,  and  after,  all  the  great  lead- 
ers, the  Adamses,  Jay,  Washington,  Jefferson,  desired  to  remain 
in  union  with  England.  They  craved  for  England  a  great 
empire,  and  wanted  to  be  a  part  of  that  empire.  They  saw,  far 
better  than  English  statesmen,  the  possibilities  of  that  empire, 
and  yielded  this  dream  of  British  greatness,  only  from  stern 
necessity.  They  regarded  themselves  as  forced  to  an  unnatural 
and  cruel  divorce. 

On  the  ninth  of  November,  1775,  a  letter  was  received  in 
Congress  from  Eichard  Penn  and  Arthur  Lee,  who  had  carried 
the  second  petition  to  the  king,  that  "no  answer  would  be 
given  to  it."  This  made  the  prospect  of  conciliation  most  dark. 
From  this  time  the  leaders  were  compelled  to  face  the  probabil- 
ity of  a  final  separation.  The  dream  of  a  great  British  empire 


i38  OUR    PRESIDENTS. 

must  vanish.     Little  by  little  they  began  to  talk  about  the 
almost  certain  separation. 

The  king  opened  the  next  Parliament  with  bitter  denuncia- 
tion of  the  colonists  as  rebels,  and  determinatoin  to  punish  them 
into  submission.  News  of  this  reached  America  in  the  spring 
of  1776.  From  this  time  it  became  a  question  of  whether  the 
colonists  could  stand  more  punishing  than  the  irate  mother 
could  give. 

About  this  time  Paine's  "Common  Sense"  was  published, 
and  did  much  to  convince  many  that  separation  and  war  for 
independence  were  absolute  necessities.  Public  sentiment  be- 
gan to  set  strongly  in  this  direction.  Congress  kept  up  with 
public  sentiment. 

On  the  tenth  of  May,  John  Adams  offered,  and  on  the  fifteenth 
Congress  passed,  a  resolution  advising  all  the  colonies  to  form 
governments  for  themselves.  On  the  eleventh  of  June,  1776, 
congress  resolved  to  appoint  a  committee  of  five  to  prepare  a 
declaration  of  independence.  Thomas  Jefferson,  John  Adams, 
Benjamin  Franklin,  Roger  Sherman  and  Robert  R.  Livingston 
were  that  committee,  chosen  by  ballot.  John  Adams  says  Jef- 
ferson had  one  more  vote  than  any  of  the  rest,  and  on  that 
account,  he  thought,  he  was  made  chairman  of  the  committee. 

Mr.  Jefferson,  at  the  instance  of  the  committee,  and,  as 
Adams  suggests,  because  he  was  the  best  writer,  and  prob- 
ably because  he  had  written  several  papers  covering  the  general 
subject;  and,  still  further,  because  he  was  connected  with  no 
clique,  wrote  the  declaration.  Dr.  Franklin  and  Mr.  Adams 
made  a  few  verbal  changes;  and  it  was  read  in  Congress  June 
28.  July  2,  it  was  taken  up  for  discussion,  and  two  days  were 
spent  over  it,  according  to  Randall,  Jefferson's  biographer. 
The  censure  of  the  people  of  England  and  the  rebuke  of  slavery 
were  taken  from  it ;  and  it  was  passed  on  the  evening  of 
July  4.  Mr.  Bancroft  says  the  vote  on  it  was  taken  July  2.  At 
any  rate,  July  4  has  been  fixed  upon  as  the  day  of  its  passage. 

On  the  day  of  the  passage  of  the  declaration,  Franklin, 
Adams  and  Jefferson  were  appointed  to  prepare  a  seal  for  THE 
UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA. 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  139 

Henceforth,  a  new  name  and  a  new  nation  are  in  the  world. 
The  declaration  was  the  turning  point  in  the  great  struggle. 
The  advanced  patriots  were  stirred  to  greater  confidence ;  the 
moderate  men  were  advanced  to  patriots;  the  cool  were  warmed; 
the  tories  were  marked  and  silenced;  the  people  at  large  were 
kindled  to  enthusiasm;  foreign  nations  were  made  friendly,  and 
France  a  genuine  friend.  It  set  before  the  armies  and  the  peo- 
ple a  definite  object.  It  began  the  apprenticeship  of  a  people 
in  nation-making  and  defending. 

NATION-BUILDING. 

Now  began  everywhere  the  great  work  of  nation-building. 
In  every  state  there  were  to  be  constructed  state,  county,  town 
and  city  governments,  according  with  the  great  principles  of  the 
declaration.  It  was  an  era  of  education  in  this  work.  The 
people  were  obliged  to  study  the  new  work  of  government- 
making.  It  was  practical  study.  There  were  no  models  for  the 
government  they  had  to  make.  They  had  started  a  nation  on  a 
new  plan ;  and  they  were  to  build  it  by  the  principles  of 
righteousness  and  common  sense,  recognizing  every  man's  place 
and  right  in  the  new  structure. 

Mr.  Jefferson  went  home  to  Virginia  to  engage  at  once,  and 
with  all  his  might,  in  the  reconstruction  of  Virginia.  In  no 
state  was  the  work  more  radical.  Virginia  was  thoroughly 
English.  Its  land,  for  the  most  part,  was  divided  into  large 
estates,  which  were  entailed  and  descended  to  the  oldest  son. 
All  the  laws  and  usages  conformed  thereto. 

The  Church  of  England  was  the  same  "establishment"  in 
Virginia  as  in  the  British  isle.  To  reconstruct  such  a  state  on 
republican  principles  required  a  re-making  of  all  the  laws  and 
all  the  usages  of  society.  To  such  a  work  there  was  great  oppo- 
sition. The  old  property-owners,  the  oldest  sons,  the  old 
lawyers,  the  conservative  people  generally,  were  against  such  a 
reconstruction  as  the  principles  of  the  declaration  required. 
To  carry  all  the  people  peacefully  forward  into  the  new  order  of 
things  was  an  almost  infinite"  task.  To  conquer  a  peace  with 


140  OUR    PRESIDENTS. 

England  was  the  smallest  part  of  the  work  of  our  revolutionary 
fathers.  From  end  to  end  of  the  new  nation  had  to  begin  this 
process  of  reconstruction ;  and  this  while  the  war  was  going  on, 
and  the  business  and  the  growth  of  the  country  were  almost 
stopped.  It  makes  one  almost  dizzy  just  to  read  the  titles  of 
the  bills  which  Jefferson  introduced  into  the  House  of  Burgesses 
at  the  session  after  the  declaration  of  independence.  But  he 
had  such  suavity  and  good  will,  and  such  strong  following 
among  the  younger  members,  that  the  state  at  once  took  its 
place  by  the  side  of  Massachusetts,  and  held  it  till  the  nation 
was  organized  and  on  its  feet  among  the  great  nations  of  the 
earth.  Massachusetts  in  the  north  and  Virginia  in  the  south 
were  the  two  arms  of  the  new  nation,  and  they  worked  together 
and  with  equal  efficiency. 

In  1776,  Mr.  Jefferson  gave  as  one  reason  for  declining  the 
French  mission,  that  he  saw  "that  the  laboring  oar  was  really 
at  home." 

In  1777  he  wrote  to  Dr.  Franklin:  "With  respect  to  Vir- 
ginia. *  *  *  The  people  seemed  to  have  laid  aside  the 
monarchical  and  taken  up  the  republican  government,  with  as 
much  ease  as  would  have  attended  their  throwing  off  an  old 
and  putting  on  a  new  garment.  Not  a  single  throe  has  attended 
this  important  transformation.  A  half  dozen  aristocratic 
gentlemen,  agonizing  under  the  loss  of  pre-eminence,  have  some- 
times ventured  their  sarcasm  on  our  political  metamorphosis. 
They  have  been  fitter  objects  of  pity  than  of  punishment." 

He  took  a  roseate  view  of  the  difficulties  he  had  met,  because 
he  had  been  successful. 

Before  his  state  was  reconstructed  the  tide  of  war  had  swept 
that  way.  Massachusetts  was  first  attacked,  but  with  such  ill 
success  that  it  was  soon  determined  to  attack  New  York,  and 
with  a  foothold  there,  break  New  England  from  the  southern 
colonies  by  a  blow  from  the  north  through  Lake  Champlain. 
Burgoyne's  defeat  frustrated  that  plan.  Then  the  destruction 
of  the  south  became  the  British  object,  and  the  armies  by  sea 
and  land  were  pushed  that  way. 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  141 


MR.    JEFFERSON   MADE   GOVERNOR. 

On  the  first  day  of  June,  1779,  Mr.  Jefferson  was  elected 
governor  of  Virginia.  Patrick -Henry  was  governor  before  him. 
These  two  men,  who  had  been  most  active  in  the  cause  of  repub- 
lican government  in  Virginia,  were  the  first  and  second  to 
occupy  the  chair  of  state  under  the  new  form. 

This  was  the  gloomiest  time  of  the  war.  France  had 
declared  for  America  and  promised  help.  The  alliance  gave  the 
Americans  a  fatal  sense  of  security.  The  army  was  decreas- 
ing and  it  was  difficult  to  renew.  The  whole  tide  of  war  was 
setting  southward,  and  Virginia  was  selected  for  the  severest 
punishment.  Georgia  had  been,  for  the  most  part,  subjugated. 
The  Carolinas  were  crippled,  and  armies  moving  upon  Virginia. 
The  most  of  her  regular  soldiers  were  in  defeated  divisions  of  the 
general  army.  There  was  no  outlook  for  Virginia  but  that  she 
must  fight.  Henry's  words,  "We  must  fight,"  had  come  true. 
The  people  must  fight.  The  British  were  at  their  doors  and 
coming  with  fire,  and  rapine  and  ruin,  as  well  as  with  sword. 
They  were  vicing  with  the  red  savages  of  the  forest  in  their 
cruelty.  The  word  went  out  among  the  people  of  the  Old 
Dominion,  and  they  came  from  their  homes  to  meet  the  coming 
foe.  Washington  hastened  home  with  his  northern  army;  the 
French  came  with  their  ships,  and  help  from  all  around,  and 
Cornwallis  was  cooped  in  Yorktown,  so  it  turned  out  that  the 
war  which  began  in  Massachusetts,  with  Virginia's  sympathy, 
ended  on  Virginia's  soil.  Governor  Jefferson  did  everything 
in  his  power  for  the  defense  of  his  state  and  conquering  a  peace 
for  the  nation.  Governor  Jefferson's  home  was  a  mark  for  the 
enemy.  His  stock,  slaves,  crops  and  lands  were  wasted;  yet  he 
pushed  on  the  war  by  every  force  he  could  raise  in  his  state. 

Brief  must  be  the  reference  to  the  important  events  of  these 
great  times. 

MRS.  JEFFERSON'S  DEATH. 

On  the  fifteenth  of  June,  1781,  Congress  associated  Mr.  Jef- 
ferson with  Adams,  Franklin,  Jay  and  Lawrens,  to  settle  the 


142  OUR  PRESIDENTS. 

terms  of  peace  with  Great  Britain,  at  Paris.  But  the  sickness  of 
his  wife  prevented  him  from  going.  Her  health  had  declined 
through  several  years.  He  had  several  times  returned  from  the 
legislature  and  from  congress  on  account  of  her  failing  health. 
On  a  number  of  occasions  he  had  refused  to  accept  important 
public  trusts,  because  he  could  not  force  himself  from  her  in 
her  feebleness.  Their  union  was  one  of  mutual  affection  and 
honor.  They  had  a  pride  as  well  as  a  pleasure  in  each  other. 
Their  home  had  become  a  center  of  the  great  and  good  of  Vir- 
ginia. They  had  six  children  born  to  them,  and  the  children 
of  his  widowed  sister,  Mrs.  Carr,  lived  with  them  almost  as 
though  their  own.  Mrs.  Jefferson  grew  feebler  through  some 
years.  Her  constitution  seemed  slowly  to  give  way.  When  she 
came  to  require  constant  care,  her  husband  spent  his  entire  time 
with  her.  For  weeks  he  sat  by  her  bed,  administered  to  her 
her  medicine,  and  every  care.  She  died  September  6,  1782,  in 
the  thirty-fifth  year  of  her  age. 

Mrs  Eandolph,  his  eldest  daughter,  many  years  after  wrote 
of  her  mother's  sickness  and  death,  and  her  father's  care  and 
sorrow,  as  follows  :  "For  four  months  that  she  lingered,  he  was 
never  out  of  calling ;  when  not  at  her  bedside,  he  was  writing  in 
a  small  room  which  opened  immediately  at  the  head  of  her  bed. 
A  moment  before  the  closing  scene,  he  was  led  from  the  room 
almost  in  a  state  of  insensibility,  by  his  sister,  Mrs.  Carr,  who, 
with  great  difficulty,  got  him  into  his  library,  where  he  fainted, 
and  remained  so  long  insensible  that  they  feared  he  would  never 
revive.  The  scene  that  followed  I  did  not  witness;  but  the 
violence  of  his  emotion — when  almost  by  stealth  I  entered  his 
room  at  night  —  to  this  day  I  dare  not  trust  myself  to  describe. 
He  kept  his  room  three  weeks,  and  I  was  never  a  moment  from 
his  side.  He  walked  almost  incessantly  night  and  day,  only 
lying  down  occasionally  when  nature  was  completely  exhausted, 
on  a  pallet  that  had  been  brought  in  during  his  long  fainting 
fit.  "When  at  last  he  left  his  room,  he  rode  out,  and  from  that 
time  he  was  almost  incessantly  on  horse-back,  rambling  about 
the  mountain  in  the  least  frequented  roads,  and  just  as  often 
through  the  woods." 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  143 

After  Mr.  Jefferson's  death,  forty-four  years  later,  were  found 
in  one  of  his  private  drawers,  locks  of  hair,  and  other  little 
souvenirs  of  his  wife  and  each  of  his  children.  They  were  done 
up  in  separate  envelopes,  "with  words  of  fond  endearment 
written  on  the  mementos." 

Very  tender  was  the  heart  of  this  great  man. 

APPOINTED  TO   NEGOTIATE   PEACE  AT  PARIS. 

After  the  death  of  his  wife  Mr.  Jefferson  was  again  appointed 
by  Congress  minister  plenipotentiary  to  negotiate  peace  with 
Great  Britain.  He  proceeded  to  Philadelphia  and  then  to  Balti- 
more ;  but  the  dangers  of  capture  were  so  great  that  it  was  not 
thought  best  for  him  to  sail  till  news  of  a  provisional  treaty 
came,  and  so  he  did  not  go,  but  returned  to  Monticello.  After 
the  war  of  the  revolution  -there  was  a  call  for  the  best  talent  of 
every  colony  for  the  state  and  national  legislatures.  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son labored  industriously  in  both.  He  was  kept  a  member  of 
Congress  and  did  excellent  service  in  it  till  he  was  again  appointed 
to  a  foreign  mission. 

COMMISSIONER  OF  TREATIES   OF   COMMERCE. 

May  7,  1784,  Mr.  Jefferson  was  appointed  minister  pleni- 
potentiary with  Mr.  Adams  and  Doctor  Franklin,  to  negotiate 
treaties  of  commerce  with  the  nations  of  Europe.  Taking  his 
oldest  daughter  with  him,  he  proceeded  to  Boston,  through  New 
Jersey,  New  York,  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island,  and  also 
visited  New  Hampshire  and  Vermont,  to  learn  as  well  as  he 
could  the  commercial  condition  of  the  country.  On  the  fifth  of 
July  he  sailed  from  Boston,  and  reached  Paris  the  sixth  of 
August,  having  stopped  a  few  days  in  England. 

He  immediately  joined  the  other  ministers ;  and  they  pre- 
pared their  plan  for  treaties.  Frederick  of  Prussia,  through  his 
ambassador,  was  quick  to  enter  into  a  treaty.  Denmark  and 
Tuscany  also  came  forward  and  made  treaties ;  but  the  other 
nations  of  Europe  knew  but  little  of  America,  and  cared  less. 


144  OUR    PRESIDENTS. 

Americans  were  rebels,  and  they  wanted  nothing  to  do  with 
them.  So  not  much  came  of  this  appointment,  though  it  began 
the  work  of  commercial  treaties. 


MINISTER   AT  THE   COURT   OF   FRANCE. 

On  the  tenth  of  March,  1785,  Congress  appointed  Mr.  Jefferson 
minister  at  the  court  of  France,  in  the  place  of  Doctor  Franklin. 
Doctor  Franklin  had  won  the  favor  of  the  French  as  a  great 
statesman,  philosopher  and  man.  He  was  well  stricken  in 
years,  yet  well  preserved  and  ripe  in  every  manly  grace.  "  You 
replace  M.  Franklin,  I  hear,"  said  Count  De  Vergennes  to  him. 
"  I  succeed,  no  one  can  replace  him/'  was  the  ready  reply.  This 
was  a  good  beginning  with  the  count,  who  was  a  great  admirer 
of  Franklin.  Jefferson  had  a  profound  respect  for  Franklin, 
and  Franklin  a  tender  regard  for  Jefferson.  Differing  much  in 
age,  they  were  yet  most  intimate  friends.  They  agreed  in  their 
general  principles  and  philosophy.  In  nature  they  were  quite 
similar.  They  were  equal  advocates  of  human  rights,  and  had  like 
views  of  the  new  government  in  America.  Jefferson's  early  man- 
hood, yet  ripe  mind,  agreeable  manners  and  ready  adaptation  to 
circumstances,  soon  won  for  him  the  confidence  of  the  government 
circles  and  the  intelligent  and  influential  of  Paris.  America  was 
then  all  the  rage  in  France.  She  had  cast  off  and  driven  back 
England,  the  old  foe  of  France.  She  had  achieved  liberty.  She 
had  set  up  a  government  of  the  people.  There  were  many  in 
France  to  rejoice  in  this.  The  representative  of  such  a  people 
had  the  enthusiasm  of  Frenchmen  to  begin  with.  But  he  was, 
as  De  Chastelux  called  him,  "the  young  senator,"  the  musician, 
the  geometrician,  the  astronomer,  the  philosopher,  the  states- 
man, the  polite  and  solid  scholar,  and  the  elegant  gentlemen  in 
society.  These  accomplishments  made  him  the  rage  as  well  as 
his  country. 

France,  by  war,  tyranny  and  taxation,  had  impoverished  and 
degraded  its  people.  Long  abuse  of  power  and  privilege  had 
corrupted  its  ruling  classes.  The  better  thinkers  had  come  to 
see  the  evil0,  upon  them,  and  to  dream  of  possible  release  from 


THOMAS   JEFFERSON".  145 

them.  The  example  of  America  made  many  believe  freedom 
was  possible  to  France.  All  such  gathered  around  Jefferson, 
received  inspiration  from  him,  and  poured  out  their  hopes  to 
him.  It  soon  became  the  fashion  to  talk  liberalism  ;  and  fashion 
rules  in  Paris.  All  classes  soon  took  up  the  talk,  and  an  era  oj: 
enthusiasm  for  liberty  in  France  came  rushing  on.  Jefferson's 
presence  and  conversation,  no  doubt,  stimulated  the  democratic 
sentiment. 

The  beginnings  of  the  revolution  came  while  Jefferson  was 
in  France  :  the  assembly  of  the  notables  ;  the  meetings  of  the 
commons;  the  consultations  about  the  forms  of  the  new  govern- 
ment ;  the  rising  of  the  people  against  the  king's  soldiers ;  the 
submission  of  the  king  to  the  popular  will,  and  the  great  oppor- 
tunity for  a  peaceful  change  from  a  monarchical  to  a  republican 
government.  He  was  much  consulted  by  the  patriots  of  a  new 
France. 

His  business  as  minister  was  thoroughly  attended  to ;  and  all 
done  for  the  commerce  of  America  that  could  be  clone. 

On  the  twenty-sixth  .of  September,  1788,  on  leave  of  Congress, 
he  left  Paris  to  bring  home  his  daughters,  and  look  after  his 
affairs.  Another  man  was  temporarily  appointed  in  his  place ; 
but  as  events  moved  on,  he  was  so  employed  in  the  home  inter- 
ests of  his  country  that  he  never  returned  to  France.  On  leaving 
France,  he  made  this  record  of  his  impressions  of  that  country: 
"I  cannot  leave  this  great  and  good  country  without  expressing 
my  sense  of  the  pre-eminence  of  its  character  among  the  nations 
of  the  earth.  A  more  benevolent  people  I  have  never  known; 
nor  greater  warmth  and  devotedness  in  their  select  friendships. 
Their  kindness  and  accommodation  to  strangers  is  unparalleled, 
and  the  hospitality  of  Paris  is  beyond  anything  I  had  conceived 
to  be  practicable  in  a  large  city." 

His  welcome  at  Monticello  by  his  slaves,  who  unhitched  his 
horses  from  his  carriage  and  drew  it  to  his  house ;  and  then 
received  him  from  it  into  their  arms,  and  "  toted  "  him  into  the 
house,  covering  his  hands  with  kisses,  and  pressing  his  person 
with  embraces,  is  told  by  his  eldest  daughter. 
10 


146  CUE  PRESIDENTS. 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE. 

Mr.  Jefferson  had  come  home  to  look  after  his  business  and 
home  interests ;  but,  before  he  reached  Monticello,  he  received 
a  letter  from  General,  now  President,  Washington,  appointing 
him  secretary  of  state.  He  would  gladly  have  been  excused 
from  this  duty.  The  government  was  starting  anew.  He  had 
been  avay  three  years,  and  knew  his  foreign  duties.  He  dis- 
trusted his  ability  to  put  the  domestic  affairs  of  the  new  govern- 
ment in  order.  He  craved  the  domestic  quiet  of  Mouticello 
with  his  children,  relatives  and  neighbors.  Yet  he  was  loyal, 
and  said  to  AVashington :  "  You  are  to  marshal  us  as  may  be 
best  for  the  public  good." 

On  the  twenty-third  of  February,  1790,  his  daughter  Martha 
was  married  to  Mr.  Thomas  Mann  Eandolph,  Jr.,  of  Tuckahoe, 
a  second  cousin  and  a  young  man  of  excellent  connection,  edu- 
cation and  promise. 

On  the  first  of  March  Mr.  Jefferson  left  home  for  New  York, 
but  tarried  a  little  at  Richmond  and  Alexandria.  He  went  in 
his  own  carriage,  making  three  miles  an  hour  in  the  day  time 
and  one  mile  an  hour  at  night.  At  Philadelphia  he  visited  Dr. 
Franklin,  now  aged  and  in  his  last  illness.  He  was  deeply 
impressed  with  the  visit. 

He  reached  New  York  on  the  twenty-first.  Congress  was  in 
session,  and  much  business  awaited  him. 

He  was  singularly  and  sadly  affected  by  New  YorK  society. 
He  had  come  from  Paris,  where  America  and  republicanism 
were  enthusiastically  extolled.  He  believed  in  the  right  of  the 
people  to  govern  themselves;  that  kingcraft  was  a  delusion  and 
a  sin;  that  monarchy  was  a  rock  of  offense  to  humanity;  and 
yet  in  New  York  society  it  was  common  to  hear  England  and 
its  government  lauded  above  all  others.  He  says:  "I  cannot 
describe  the  wonder  and  mortification  with  which  the  table 
talks  filled  me.  Politics  were  the  chief  topic,  and  a  pref- 
erence of  kingly  over  republican  government  was  evidently 
the  favorite  sentiment ! "  New  York  city  was  in  British  hands 
during  the  revolution.  Many  of  its  old  families  were  tories  at 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  147 

heart  after  independence  was  secured.  As  a  colony  and  state, 
New  York  was  slow  to  accept  republican  teachings.  Jefferson 
had  never  lived  in  such  an  atmosphere.  It  was  stifling  and 
offensive  to  him.  It,  no  doubt,  intensified  his  republicanism. 

Very  soon  after  peace  was  declared,  there  came  to  be  a 
divided  political  sentiment  in  the  country.  The  old  love  of  the 
English  style  of  government  was  very  strong  in  many  jninds. 
All  admitted  that  it  was  the  best  model  yet  known ;  so  the 
question  was :  How  closely  shall  America  follow  the  model  ? 
Alexander  Hamilton  would  follow  it  very  closely.  He  was,  no 
doubt,  the  strongest  and  clearest  political  thinker  of  his  time. 
The  world  hardly  had  a  superior.  He  was  an  ardent  friend  of 
Washington  and  America;  had  put  all  his  hopes  into  the  revo- 
lution; and  after  the  constitution  was  adopted,  wrote  in  the 
"Federalist"  some  of  the  ablest  articles  in  its  defense  ever 
written.  He  probably  paved  the  way  to  its  acceptance  more 
than  any  other.  Mr.  Jefferson,  who  at  first  was  opposed  to  the 
constitution  in  many  particulars,  though  he  said  the  convention 
that  made  it  was  a  "convention  of  demi-gods,"  acknowledged  his 
indebtedness  to  Mr.  Hamilton  for  so  enforcing  its  provisions 
that  he  saw  it  in  a  new  light  and  Came  to  be  its  friend. 

Governor  Morris,  of  New  York,  was  even  more  in  favor  of  a 
monarchical  form  of  government.  Some,  no  doubt,  would  have 
been  glad  of  the  English  government  with  the  king  left  out. 
There  grew  up  a  party  of  this  class  of  political  thinkers,  who 
accepted  the  constitution,  but  some  of  whom  thought,  perhaps, 
it  would  be  modified  more  in  favor  of  monarchy.  The  difficul- 
ties and  occasional  discontent  and  outbreak  among  the  people ; 
the  lawlessness  engendered  by  the  long  war,  doubtless  frightened 
some  of  republican  ways  of  thinking,  and  turned  them  back 
toward  monarchical  views.  Hamilton  himself  grew  more 
monarchical  with  his  experience  of  the  many  defects  in  the 
first  attempts  of  government  by  the  people. 

On  the  other  side  were  strong  believers  in  the  capacity  of 
the  people  for  self-government.  This  class  had  more  confidence 
in  human  nature,  more  trust  in  fair  treatment  and  just  laws,  a 
greater  readiness  to  think  well  of  mankind  generally.  And  this 


.48  OUE   PRESIDENTS. 

class,  too,  were  more  out  with  the  ola  forms  of  government  gen- 
erally. They  were  political  reformers  willing  to  take  the  risk 
of  something  new.  They  hated  King  George,  and  all  kings. 
They  hated  Parliament  as  a  tool  of  the  king ;  hated  the  lords 
and  peers,  and  all  the  titled  nobility ;  even  hated  England  for 
sustaining  such  a  tyrannical  crew.  Jefferson,  a  man  of  the 
people  for  many  years,  grew  more  and  more  in  sympathy  with 
these  radically  republican  views.  His  experience  in  France 
helped  them  on.  When  he  returned  he  Avas  shocked  by  the 
monarchical  and  English  opinions  of  many  Americans.  He  was 
repelled  by  them,  and  soon  began  to  resist  them,  and  with  so 
much  energy  and  honest  fervor  that  he,  in  due  time,  without 
intending  it,  became  the  leader  of  that  party. 

Mr.  Jefferson  and  Mr.  Hamilton,  personal  friends,  co-work- 
ers in  the  revolution,  now  became  members  of  Washington's 
cabinet,  the  first  cabinet  of  the  kind  ever  formed.  The  other 
two  heads  of  the  cabinet  were  General  Knox  and  Edmund  Ran- 
dolph. Knox  sympathized  with  the  federal  views,  Randolph 
with  the  republican.  Washington  was  elected  by  the  whole 
people ;  he  sought  to  make  his  administration  serve  the  whole. 
It  was  as  he  intended  it  should  be,  a  no-party  administration. 
But  this  mixing  opposites  in  the  same  body  did  not  work  as 
Washington  hoped.  These  leaders  of  contrary  views,  Hamilton 
and  Jefferson,  were  too  much  opposed  to  coalesce.  And  instead 
of  nearing  each  other  they  constantly  separated.  They  were 
able  men  and  each  filled  his  office  with  great  ability  ;  and  each 
had  a  great  following.  The  sharp  division  between  them  grad- 
ually came  to  be  a  sharp  division  between  two  great  political 
parties.  Perhaps  it  was  inevitable.  Republican  government 
was  a  new  thing  in  the  world.  It  was  a  new  thing  for  the 
people  to  administer  their  own  government.  Leaders  of 
popular  parties  had  as  much  to  learn  as  the  people.  Neither  of 
these  men  were  as  perfect,  or  as  wise  or  great  as  their  followers 
thought  them.  The  principles  of  neither  were  so  bad  as  the 
opposite  party  thought.  Successful  governments  could  have 
been  run  by  either. 

Mr.  Jefferson  opposed  Mr.  Hamilton's  paper-money  schemes. 


THOMAS  JEFFEBSON.  149 

At  first  they  seemed  to  work  well;  money  was  plenty;  the  pub- 
lic debts  cared  for;  the  national  credit  established;  the  spirit 
of  trade  and  speculation  awakened ;  the  stock  in  the  United 
States  Bank  went  up  to  almost  one  hundred  per  cent  above  par. 
Then  Hamilton  was  regarded  as  a  broad-seeing  and  wonderful 
man.  Jefferson  regarded  all  this  with  distrust ;  pronounced  it 
false  in  principle  —  demoralizing;  claimed  that  it  was  corrupt- 
ing the  government,  had  already  done  it,  and  was  leading  to- 
moral  and  financial  ruin.  A  few  years  brought  the"  very  results 
Jefferson  had  predicted.  The  stock  in  the  bank  went  down 
nearly  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  per  cent.  Financial  disas- 
ter was  general.  This  gave  great  currency  to  Jefferson's  wis- 
dom and  political  philosophy. 

A  war  between  France  and  England  came  on,  in  which 
Spain  was  embroiled.  Popular  enthusiasm  went  with  France. 
The  French  Minister,  Genet,  through  popularity  with  the  peo- 
ple, sought  to  carry  the  United  States  with  France.  For  a  time 
with  a  high  hand  he  pushed  his  plans,  and  at  length  became 
embroiled  with  our  government,  which  asked  France  to  recall 
him.  Jefferson-'s  strong  French  sympathies  drew  him  to  Genet; 
but  in  the  end  he  disproved  his  course,  and  set  himself  right  in 
the  very  general  estimate  of  his  countrymen.  Hamilton,  on 
the  other  hand,  sympathized  with  England,  and  all  the  more 
in  consequence  of  his  opposition  to  Jefferson  and  his  followers. 
It  was  a  critical  time  for  the  United  States  government,  on 
account  of  its  real  dangers,  but  more  on  account  of  its  divided 
counsels. 

Hamilton's  English  leaning  and  opposition  to  France,  to 
Jefferson  and  to  the  public  sympathies,  made  strong  inroads 
upon  his  popularity,  and  also  upon  his  party,  the  federalist. 
By  Washington's  steady-going  wisdom,  neutrality  was  observed 
and  war  escaped.  But  very  intense  political  feelings,  even  ani- 
mosities, were  engendered,  which  projected  themselves  through 
nearly  three  generations,  and  are  scarcely  ended  yet.  The  old 
men  of  this  age  remember  much  of  them  and  feel  something  of 
them  yet.  Jefferson's  generous  sympathies,  hatred  of  kings  and 
tyrannies,  generally  sound  philosophy  of  human  life,  with  his 


150  OUR  PRESIDENTS. 

strong  felicitous  way  of  stating  his  views,  put  him  into  his  age 
as  a  mighty  personal  power.  Yet  it  seems  clear  to  the  riper 
thought  of  this  age  that  he  leaned  to  an  extreme  democracy; 
while  Hamilton  and  his  confreres  leaned  as  much  to  an  over- 
strong  monarchical  government;  and  they  each,  probably,  leaned 
the  more  by  their  mutual  repulsion.  Left  to  themselves,  they 
would  both  have  grown  up  erect  and  giant  oaks  in  the  new 
republican  forest.  Such  are  the  misfortunes  of  partisanship. 

The  essential  principles  of  both  the  parties  of  that  time  have 
gone  into  the  constitution  and  administration  of  the  American 
government.  The  federalists  gave  the  anatomy  and  solid  struc- 
ture, and  the  republicans,  afterward  called  democrats,  the  blood 
and  muscle  and  broad  human  sensibility.  The  two  together 
have  made  it  what  it  is,  the  joy  and  glory  of  the  whole  world. 

RESIGNS   THE   SECRETARYSHIP. 

On  the  fifth  of  January,  1794,  Mr.  Jefferson  resigned  his 
place  in  the  cabinet.  A  year  later  Mr.  Hamilton  resigned. 
Jefferson  retired  to  Monticello  and  busied  himself  with  his 
domestic  affairs  with  zeal  and  satisfaction.  His  daughter,  Mrs. 
Randolph,  had  two  children  in  whom  he  found  great  pleasure. 
He  and  his  daughter  became  almost  inseparable,  so  much  so, 
that  she  took  her  family  home  to  Monticello,  that  she  and  her 
children  might  be  constantly  with  him.  Three  years  were  spent 
in  this  way,  most  grateful  to  this  man  of  rural  and  domestic 
tastes. 

VICE-PRESIDENT. 

February  8,  1797,  Mr.  Jefferson  was  elected  vice-president  of 
the  United  States,  under  John  Adams  as  president.  Here  were 
president  and  vice-president  politically  at  variance,  yet  both 
high-minded,  patriotic  men.  The  government  was  new.  Under 
Washington  it  had  run  largely  by  the  influence  of  his  great 
name.  Now  it  had  gone  into  other  hands,  and  had  opposite 
political  sentiments  in  its  president  and  vice-president.  It  had 
had  serious  troubles  under  Washington  from  opposing  members 
of  the  cabinet. 


THOMAS   JEFFERSON.  151 

Now,  a  war  was  threatened  from  France.  President  Adams 
and  his  government  prepared  for  it.  An  army  was  raised; 
Washington  appointed  commander,  with  Hamilton  the  second 
in  command.  Stringent  laws  against  foreigners  were  passed. 
Sedition  laws  were  enacted  and  somewhat  enforced,  obnoxious 
to  the  spirit  of  the  government.  Great  excitement  was  occa- 
sioned among  the  people.  They  were  unused  to  their  own  insti- 
tutions, and  were  experimenting  in  relation  to  them.  There 
was  much  distrust  and  excitability. 

There  is  now  but  little  doubt  but  that  at  about  this  time,  one 
Don  Francisco  de  Miranda,  of  Caracas,  who  had  been  a  literary 
traveler,  and  had  figured  as  a  military  man  in  France,  had  con- 
ceived the  idea  of  the  independence  of  the  Spanish-American 
states  ;  had  planned  with  Pitt  for  the  cooperation  of  the  British 
government  in  his  scheme,  and  was  now  scheming  with  Hamil- 
ton to  involve  the  United  States  in  the  project ;  and  that  this 
anticipated  war  with  France,  and  these  war  measures  in  which 
Adams  and  Washington  were  innocently  involved,  were  a  part 
of  the  ambitious  scheme.  A  few  of  Hamilton's  special  friends 
were  his  coadjutors,  and  probably  some  of  Mr.  Adams'  cabinet. 
Those  involved  were  all  federalists.  The  discovery  of  something 
of  their  plot  brought  condemnation  and  retribution  to  that 
party.  The  most  of  the  party  were  among  the  best  men  of  the 
nation.  And  those  involved  in  this  scheme  may  have  regarded 
it  as  a  legitimate  way  of  carrying  the  independence  enjoyed  by 
the  United  States  to  the  central  and  southern  states  of  America. 
It  was  an  age  when  military  schemes  abounded.  Bonaparte  had 
begun  his  career.  The  American  continent  was  regarded  as  a 
great  field  for  the  future.  The  principles  of  civil  liberty  were 
not  well  established.  In  the  disturbed  and  demoralized  con- 
dition of  the  times,  this  scheme  took  shape  in  Miranda's  ambi- 
tious brain,  and  came  near  wrecking  in  foreign  and  intestine 
broils  this  new  government  by  the  people. 

Those  who  speak  of  the  early  times  of  the  republic,  as  its 
good  old  times,  speak  without  knowledge.  The  truth  is,  its 
early  days  were  its  worst  days.  They  were  days  of  experiment-' 
ing  and  blundering;  of  hard  criticism  and  relentless  partisan- 


152  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

ship;  of  distrust,  accusation  and  recrimination.  For  twenty- 
years  the  government  hobbled  along.  And  why  should  it  not? 
Its  people  were  learning  the  great  art  of  self-government.  It 
may  truly  be  attributed  to  the  good  Providence  over  them 
more  than  to  their  own  wisdom  and  virtue,  that  they  learned  to 
walk  at  all.  Everybody  now  ought  to  know  the  facts  of  those 
days  and  the  whole  history  of  this  incomparable  country,  so  as 
to  properly  appreciate  the  inestimable  worth  of  this  century- 
grown  fabric  of  human  wisdom  and  experience,  under  Divine 
guidance,  which  we  call  "our  government." 

Mr.  Jefferson  had  no  part  or  lox  in  these  schemes  and 
no  knowledge  of  them  at  the  time.  No  man  of  his  party 
was  approached  by  the  foreign  schemers.  Only  such  were 
approached  as  were  supposed  to  have  English  sympathies  and 
French  hatred.  There  were  to  be  four  nations  involved  in  the 
scheme;  to  make  several  more  new  nations  out  of  Spanish  terri- 
tory, and  add  to  the  United  States  the  Spanish  territories  of 
Florida  and  on  the  Mississippi  river.  The  federal  party  were 
not  in  the  least  to  blame  for  the  scheming  of  a  half  a  dozen  of 
its  members,  but  the  punishment  came  upon  the  whole  party. 

THE   THIRD    PRESIDENT. 

On  the  fourth  day  of  March,  1801,  Thomas  Jefferson  was 
inaugurated  president  of  the  United  States,  and  Aaron  Burr 
vice-president.  His  election  had  been  stoutly  opposed,  but  at 
last  was  cheerfully  acquiesced  in  by  the  moderate  federalists. 
There  had  come  to  be  a  very  general  fear  that  the  republic  was 
endangered  by  the  fierce  broils  that  were.disturbing  it;  that  the 
hot  partisan  spirit  kept  up  might  prove  the  ruin  of  the  country 
and  this  experiment  in  popular  government.  This  led  the 
moderate  federalists  not  only  to  acquiesce  in  the  election  of 
Mr.  Jefferson,  but  to  really  feel  like  helping  him  to  give  the 
country  a  good  administration.  By  the  very  fury  of  the  canvass, 
peace  came  to  the  country. 

Mr.  Jefferson  selected  a  cabinet  of  strong  men  who  were  in 
sympathy  with  himself.  Washington's  cabinet  was  oil  and 
water  that  would  not  mix.  Adams'  cabinet  was  weak,  subject 


.THOMAS   JEFFERSON.  153 

to  strong  men  outside  who  had  personal  schemes  to  carry  out. 
Now  there  was  a  strong  and  united  cabinet,  interested  only  in 
giving  the  people  an  administration  which  should  promote  the 
welfare  of  the  Avhole  country. 

At  that  early  day  there  came  up  the  question  of  civil  service. 
Mr.  Jefferson  found  all  the  offices  in  the  gift  of  the  government 
in  the  hands  of  the  federalists,  with  a  single  exception.  Mr. 
Adams  had  continued  to  make  appointments  up  to  the  last  day 
of  his  time,  and  always  of  federalists.  ISFow  came  the  question 
to  Mr.  Jefferson,  shall  these  all  remain,  or  shall  a  portion  of 
them  be  dismissed  to  give  place  to  friends  of  the  new  adminis- 
tration ?  He  decided  that  all  faithful  and  efficient  servants  of 
the  public  should  remain,  but  in  a  few  cases  of  inefficiency  and 
unworthiness  in  office  he  would  make  changes,  and  so  continue 
to  change  for  good  cause  till  the  ratio  of  republicans  in  office 
should  be  about  equal  to  the  ratio  of  republicans  in  the  country, 
and  so  at  length  have  both  parties  fairly  represented  officially, 
according  to  their  strength. 

Mr.  Jefferson's  theory  was  that  the  great  body  of  federalists 
as  well  as  republicans  were  loyal  to  the  republic  and  the  prin- 
ciples on  which  it  was  founded,  and  that  the  fearful  disturb- 
ances which  came  so  near  wrecking  the  new  nation,  were 
occasioned  by  scheming  leaders  and  the  arts  and  cabals  of  other 
nations.  Washington's  counsel  to  keep  clear  of  foreign 
entanglement,  was  doubtless  made  because  it  was  needed.  Jef- 
ferson now  hoped  to  have  this  counsel  regarded. 

In  his  public  appointments  he  had  three  rules:  first,  to  treat 
as  nullities  the  appointments  of  the  former  administration, 
made  after  his  own  election ;  second,  to  ask,  "Is  he  honest  ?  Is 
he  capable?  Is  he  faithful  tofthe  constitution  ?"  and  third,  to 
refrain  from  appointing  relatives.  He  said:  "The  public  will 
never  be  made  to  believe  that  an  appointment  of  a  relative  is 
made  on  the  ground  of  merit  alone,  uninfluenced  by  family  ties. 
It  is  true,  this  places  the  relations  of  the  president  in  a  worse 
situation  than  if  he  were  a  stranger,  but  the  public  good,  which 
cannot  be  effected  if  its  confidence  be  lost,  requires  this  sacri-. 
fice."  Washington  had  adopted  the  s&ine  rule.  Mr.  Adama 


154  OUE    PRESIDENTS. 

made  the  mistake  of  appointing  a  relative  in  one  instance,  but 
the  Senate  rightly  refused  to  confirm  it. 

The  population  of  the  United  States  in  1800,  on  the  eve  of 
Mr.  Jefferson's  election,  was  5,305,925.  It  had  about  doubled 
since  the  declaration  of  independence. 

THE   PURCHASE  OF  LOUISIANA. 

The  Spanish  possessions  on  the  South  and  Central  American 
coast,  then  reached  as  far  north  as  South  Carolina,  so  that 
the  United  States  joined  territory  on  the  south,  with  Spain.  In 
the  settlement  of  the  war  between  France  and  Spain,  France 
became  the  possessor  of  Florida  and  Louisiana.  This  aroused 
the  United  States  to  the  possible  danger  of  future  and  not  far 
off  complications  with  France.  Mr.  Jefferson  counseled  France 
against  the  possession  of  this  Spanish  territory,  as  threatening 
the  peace  of  the  United  States.  But  France  was  dreaming  of 
colonial  schemes.  Bonaparte  conceived  of  a  French  empire 
in  America  with  its  capital  and  great  commercial  outlet  at  New 
Orleans.  But  so  stout  was  the  resistance  of  the  United  States, 
and  so  threatening  its  attitude,  that  he  began  to  think  it  might 
cost  more  than  it  would  be  worth.  Mr.  Jefferson  had  charged 
Mr.  Livingston,  our  minister  in  France,  to  use  every  endeavor  to 
purchase  the  territory  of  France.  Then  to  press  the  matter 
still  further,  he  sent  Mr.  Monroe  to  France  on  this  special 
mission.  The  result  was  that  on  the  thirtieth  of  April,  1803, 
the  purchase  was  made.  Sixty  million  francs  was  the  price; 
twenty  millions  to  be  paid  to  citizens  of  the  United  States  due 
from  France  for  supplies  and  prizes  at  sea. 

The  territory  was  an  empire  of  itself.  It  was  in  the  heart  of 
the  American  continent.  It  held  the  great  rivers.  After  the 
declaration  of  independence,  this  was  the  greatest  event  that 
had  transpired  in  America.  It  opened  the  valley  of  the  Missis- 
sippi to  the  freedom  and  civilization  of  the  United  States.  And 
it  only  cost  a  little  money,  easily  paid  in  the  growth  of  the 
country.  And  yet  it  was  by  some  denounced  at  the  time  as  a 
reckless  waste  of  a  nation's  money.  But  it  made  the  administra- 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON".  155 

tion  immensely  popular,  as  it  removed  one  great  source  of 
danger  and  was  a  peaceful  settlement  of  a  difficult  problem. 

Mr.  Jefferson  was  inaugurated  for  his  second  term,  March 
4,  1805,  in  the  sixty-second  year  of  his  age.  The  rapidly 
growing  country,  the  developing  principles  of  republicanism, 
the  enlarging  sphere  of  the  nation's  intercourse  with  the  world, 
made  his  administration  important  in  many  respects.  The 
development  of  Aaron  Burr's  plot  for  a  western  empire  and  his 
treasonable  purposes,  and  his  trial,  came  in  Mr.  Jefferson's  time. 
So  did  the  duel  between  Burr  and  Hamilton,  and  the  death  of 
the  latter. 

Mr.  Jefferson  grew  in  popularity  and  influence  during  his 
whole  administration.  He  served  as  president  in  stormy  times; 
but  carried  the  ship  of  state  into  peaceful  waters.  Even  a  hasty 
study  of  his,  and  the  earlier  administrations,  shows  how  much 
the  people  had  to  learn  to  be  self-governing.  They  felt  their 
way  blindly — even  those  who  governed  for  the  most  part.  The 
people  were  sensitive,  critical,  suspicious,  excitable.  Little  evils 
portended  destruction;  trifles  were  likely  to  upset  the  govern- 
ment; a  new  idea  startled  many;  the  faces  of  many  were  always 
turned  backward  for  examples,  and  if  any  took  a  forward  look 
it  frightened  them.  Mr.  Jefferson  looked  forward,  and  hoped 
for  better  things  in  the  future  than  the  past  had  known. 
He  was  constitutionally  a  reformer.  He  tried  experiments 
and  took  new  ways  of  doing  things.  He  was  no  worshiper  of 
the  past.  When  he  looked  back  he  saw  so  many  horrible  things 
in  the  oppressions  and  sufferings  of  humanity  that  he  shuddered. 
He  was  humane,  and  believed  in  humanity;  in  the  equal  rights 
of  men;  in  fair  dealing,  and  the  helpfulness  of  governments 
and  the  higher  classes  of  men.  He  honored  human  nature,  and 
believed  the  natural  order  of  things  was  good.  He  wanted  to 
abolish  slavery,  and  caste,  and  titles,  and  official  dignities,  and 
recognize  plain  worth  and  true  merit  only  as  conferring  the  dig- 
nity Avorth  knowing.  If  he  had  been  born  among  the  Friends 
he  wculd  have  been  a  zealous  disciple  of  their  principles.  As 
he  said  in  a  letter  to  Mrs.  Adams  in  explanation  of  the  differ- 
ences between  him  and  the  federalists:  "One  fears  most  the 


156  OUE   PRESIDENTS. 

ignorance  of  the  people;  the  other  the  selfishness  of  rulers,  inde- 
pendent of  them.  Which  is  right,  time  and  experience  will 
prove."  The  federalists  feared  the  ignorance  of  the  people,  he 
would  say,  while  he  feared  more  the  selfishness  of  rulers. 

Added  to  these  constitutional  qualities  and  opinions  a  strong 
imagination,  a  fervent  temperament,  high  spirit,  intensity  of 
nature,  an  ability  to  talk  and  write  with  power,  and  a  disposi- 
tion to  call  things  by  the  names  most  befitting  his  views  of 
them,  and  we  have  Thomas  Jefferson — not  a  model  man,  by  any 
means;  over  fervent  often;  over  severe  sometimes;  suspicious  of 
the  motives  of  those  who  sharply  differed  from  him;  over- 
generous  to  those  he  liked,  and  yet  a  good  man;  great,  honest, 
hearty,  brilliant,  powerful;  who  could  not  help  making  a  strong 
impression  on  his  age,  and  having  a  wide  following — a  king 
among  men,  as  royal  in  heart  as  in  mind. 

JEFFERSON'S  RELIGIOUS  OPINIONS. 

It  was  common  in  those  high  calvinistic  times  for  his  bitter 
political  enemies  to  denounce  him  as  an  infidel,  an  atheist,  a 
despiser  of  religion.  And  it  must  be  said  that  the  language  of 
denunciation  among  those  of  different  opinions  was  common 
then.  It  was  common  to  be  unjust  and  unfair  to  those  of  the 
contrary  opinion.  The  most  religious  people  were  not  wanting 
in  hard  terms  to  apply  roundly  to  those  whom  they  censured. 

Mr.  Jefferson  was  baptized  and  reared  in  the  Episcopal 
church,  and  through  his  life  contributed  to  its  support.  His 
wife  and  daughters  were  attached  to  it.  Its  ministers  were  often 
his  friends.  Had  he  lived  in  this  time  he  would  perhaps  have 
been  a  broad  churchman,  or  a  Unitarian,  or  a  friend,  or  a  new 
orthodox,  or  a  left-wing  friend,  of  some  church.  At  heart  he 
was  a  religious  man,  but  his  religion  was  not  the  orthodoxy  of 
his  time.  He  always  spoke  and  wrote  reverently  of  God  in  all  his 
state  papers,  as  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  recognized 
the  just  and  good  providence  of  God  over  men.  In  letters  to 
friends  he  has  occasionally  spoken  believingly  of  a  future  im- 
mortal life.  To  Mrs.  Adams,  he  wrote:  "Perhaps,  one  of  the 
elements  of  future  felicity  is  to  be  a  constant  and  unimpassioned 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  157 

view  of  what  is  passing  here.  If  so,  this  may  well  supply  the 
wish  of  occasional  visits/'  And  to  Mr.  Adams,  after  the  death 
of  his  wife,  he  speaks  of  ascending  "in  essence  to  a  meeting  with 
the  friends  we  have  loved  and  lost,  and  whom  we  shall  still  love 
and  never  lose  again." 

In  a  report  concerning  the  religious  instruction  in  the 
university  of  Virginia,  he  said :  "  /he  relations  which  exist 
between  man  and  his  Maker,  and  the  Juties  resulting  from  those 
relations,  are  the  most  interesting  and  important  to  every  human 
being,  and  the  most  incumbent  on  his  study  and  investigation." 

THE   UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA. 

As  early  as  1816,  Mr.  Jefferson  was  instrumental  in  converting 
Albemarle  academy  into  Central  college.  The  scheme  of  a  col- 
lege grew  in  his  mind  into  the  University  of  Virginia.  He  gave 
much  interest  to  this  for  many  years.  It  was  the  initiatory 
movement  for  state  universities.  It  did  not  realize  his  hopes, 
but  became  an  efficient  institution. 

FINANCIAL  MISFORTUNES. 

During  the  last  years  of  his  life,  a  crushing  financial  depres- 
sion made  the  values  of  property  uncertain  and  caused  many 
failures.  Mr.  Jefferson's  constant  attention  to  public  business 
had  prevented  his  attention  to  his  own  affairs,  and  they  suffered 
by  this  neglect.  He  got  somcAvhat  involved  in  debt,  and  just 
at  this  time  Governor  Nicolas  failed  for  whom  he  had  given  his 
name  as  surety  to  the  amount  of  twenty  thousand  dollars.  It 
was  a  great  trial  for  his  declining  years,  but  he  bore  it  with 
cheerful  fortitude.  But  when  it  became  known  to  the  country 
that  his  affairs  were  thus  involved,  personal  gifts  of  gratitude 
and  love  from  all-  parts  came  in  to  relieve  his  estate  and  give  him 
great  peace.  He  accepted  them  as  tokens  of  affection  from  his 
children. 

FINAL  DEPARTURE. 

The  robust  frame  of  the  great  patriot  at  last  began  to  give 
way  to  age.  It  is  pleasant  to  read  the  correspondence  between 


158  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

him  and  John  Adams,  in  their  declining  years.  In  their 
manhood  they  were  compatriots  and  personal  friends  and  served 
their  country  in  mutual  affection.  But  in  the  sharp  division 
of  parties  they  became  estranged,  and  lived  as  strangers  for 
many  years.  When  the  heat  of  political  misunderstandings 
passed  away,  they  became  reconciled,  and  ever  after  they  were 
like  two  loving  brothers  in  their  correspondence.  As  they  grew 
old  they  told  of  and  inquired  after  their  infirmities.  They  kept 
each  other  informed  of  their  conditions.  When  Adams  came 
to  die,  his  last  words  were:  "Thomas  Jefferson  still  survives." 
His  last  thought  seemed  to  have  been  on  his  old  friend. 

It  was  on  the  fourth  of  July,  1826,  fifty  years  after  they  had 
enacted  the  declaration  of  independence,  when  the  whole  nation 
was  jubilant  in  their  praises  of  what  they  had  done,  at  fifty 
minutes  after  twelve  o'clock  noon,  that  Thomas  Jefferson  died. 
A  little  before  he  had  taken  affectionate  farewells  of  members  of 
his  family,  and  when  the  last  was  said,  he  audibly  murmured, 
"Lo^rd,  now  lettest  thou  thy  servant  depart  in  peace."  An 
hour  later  and  John  Adams  followed.  Earth  sees  them  no 
more,  save  in  their  great  works.  Their  love  is  complete  in  the 
light  in  which  they  dwell. 


f  HE  iiRAVE.  OF  f  HOMAS  JjEFFERSON. 

The  grave  of  Jefferson  is  at  Monticello,  the  place  of  his 
residence,  which  he  chose  for  its  beautiful  situation,  and  wide 
and  grand  vieAvs  over  a  great  sweep  of  valley  and  hills  and  richly 
wooded  mountains  in  the  distance,  forty  miles  away.  He  made 
the  selection  while  yet  a  young  man.  There  he  took  his  young 
wife  in  the  midst  of  a  great  snow-storm  and  in  the  dead  of 
night.  There  he  lived  his  great  life.  It  was  the  dearest  spot 
on  earth  to  him,  and  the  most  beautiful.  There  lie  died ;  and 
there  reposes  his  dust.  What  associations  cluster  around  this 
now  lonely  and  neglected  place !  What  characters  once  came 
here  for  counsel  and  high  converse!  What  throngs  from  all  the 
states  and  over  the  sea!  What  letters  were  here  written  and 


THOMAS   JEFFERSON.  159 

read;  what  words  and  works  that  live!  How  much  for  the 
young  republic  was  here  thought  and  done.  Now  how  sadly 
lonely ! 

On  the  fly -leaf  of  an  old  book  of  accounts  for  1741,  was 
found,  after  Jefferson's  death,  the  following  in  his  hand,  which 
was  supposed  to  refer  to  the  place  where  he  would  have  his  body 
sleep  in  peace.  "  Choose  some  unfrequented  vale  in  the  park, 
where  is  no  sound  to  break  the  stillness,  but  a  brook  that  bub- 
bling winds  among  the  woods  —  no  mark  of  human  shape  that 
has  been  there,  unless  the  skeleton  of  some  poor  wretch  who 
sought  that  place  out  of  despair  to  die  in.  Let  it  be  among 
ancient  and  venerable  oaks;  intersperse  some  gloomy  evergreens. 
Appropriate  one  half  to  the  use  of  my  family;  the  other  to 
strangers,  servants,  etc.  Let  the  exit  look  upon  a  small  and 
distant  part  of  the  blue  mountains." 

A  little  way  from  his  old  residence,  which  crowns  Monticello, 
and  a  little  to  the  right  of  the  Charlotteville  road,  in  a  thick 
growth  of  woods,  still  and  lonely  as  he  could  wish,  is  Jefferson's 
grave.  There  is  no  vale,  no  brook  to  murmur,  no  sound  but  the 
soughing  of  the  wind  in  the  evergreens.  There  are  some  thirty 
graves  in  a  space  about  one  hundred  feet  square,  which  was 
enclosed  by  a  brick  wall,  ten  feet  high.  On  the  south  side,  this 
wall  had  fallen  into  a  ruin.  On  the  north  and  west  sides  it  yet 
stood.  The  iron  gates  on  these  two  sides  were  locked  in  rust. 
Virginia  creepers  adorned  the  west  wall.  The  ground  of  the 
enclosure  was  neglected,  grown  up  to  grass,  shrubs  and  weeds. 
Loose  bricks  and  stones,  and  vegetable  decay  and  growth  marked 
the  place  as  a  solitude,  if  not  a  ruin.  The  tombstones  were  gen- 
erally defaced  and  broken, — many  of  them  fallen  and  overgrown 
with  weeds  and  moss.  About  the  middle  of  the  northern  side, 
is  the  grave  of  Jefferson,  precisely  where  he  had  often  told 
Wormley,  his  old  servant,  he  desired  to  have  it.  The  mound  is 
trodden  even  with  the  ground.  At  the  head  of  the  grave  was 
placed  a  coarse  granite  obelisk,  nine  feet  high,  which  rested  on  a 
base  three  feet  square.  The  monument  was  beaten  and  battered 
into  a  ruin  by  relic-hunters;  even  the  inscription  was  beaten  olt, 
except  the  part  that  tells  his  birth  and  death. 


160  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

After  Jefferson's  death,  a  rough  sketch  of  an  obelisk  was 
found,  after  which  this  was  patterned.  Under  the  design  was 
this  inscription : 


HERE  WAS  BURIED 


AUTHOR  OF  THE 

DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE, 

OF  THE 

STATUTE  OF  VIRGINIA  FOR  RELIGIOUS 
FREEDOM; 

AND 

FATHER  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  VIRGINIA  ; 

BORN  APRIL  2,  O.  8.  1743  ; 
DIED  JULY  4,  1826. 


Even  this  inscription,  which  was  put  upon  the  obelisk,  is 
beaten  off  by  the  sacrilegious  horde  who  have  thronged  the 
sacred  place  in  idle  curiosity,  except  the  words  that  give  the 
birth  and  death. 

This  was  the  cordition  of  Jefferson's  grave  until  very 
recently.  In  1878  a  movement  was  made  in  Congress  to  remove 
this  battered  and  disfigured  monument  and  to  put  in  its  place 
one  which  should  properly  recognize  the  great  sleeper  under- 
neath. That  movement  failed  because  of  objections  by  the 
owner  of  the  place,  who  claimed  ownership  of  the  grave  and  the 
right  of  way  to  it.  Arrangements  were  finally  made,  and  last 
year  a  resolution  was  passed  by  Congress  appropriating  ten 
thousand  dollars  for  erecting  a  suitable  monument.  During 
the  pending  of  this  resolution,  Miss  Sarah  N.  Kandolph,  a 
descendant  of  Jefferson,  made  to  a  member  of  Congress  a  full 
statement  of  the  condition  of  the  graveyard  and  the  title  to  it 
by  the  family.  The  following  is  a  part  of  this  statement : 

"The  little  graveyard  at  Monticello  —  only  one  hundred  feet 
square  —  is  all  of  the  ten  thousand  acres  of  land  owned  by  Jef- 
ferson when  he  entered  public  life,  which  is  now  left  in  the 


THOMAS   JEFFERSON.  161 

possession  of  his  descendants.  He  sleeps  amid  scenes  of  sur- 
passing beauty  and  grandeur,  on  that  lovely  mountain  side, 
surrounded  by  the  graves  of  his  children  and  grandchildren  to 
the  fifth  generation.  At  his  side  lies  his  wife  whom  he  loved 
with  singular  devotion.  A  few  feet  from  him  rests  the  cher- 
ished friend  of  his  youth — young  Dabney  Carr  —  whose  motion 
in  the  Virginia  House  of  Burgesses,  to  establish  committees  of 
correspondence  between  the  sister  colonies,  leading  as  it  did  to 
the  meeting  of  the  First  Congress,  has  given  his  name  an  enviable 
place  in  American  history.  A  little  farther  off  lie  the  remains 
of  another  devoted  and  distinguished  friend,  Governor  Wilson 
Gary  Nicolas,  of  Virginia ;  while  at  his  feet  sleeps  another  gov- 
ernor of  the  old  commonwealth,  his  own  son-in-law,  Thomas 
Mann  Randolph.  The  modesty  of  the  spot  is  in  striking  con- 
trast with  the  celebrity  of  its  dead ;  and  there  are,  perhaps,  few 
in  America  of  greater  historic  interest,  or  more  deserving  of  the 
nation's  care.  Soon  after  the  appropriation  was  made  by  Con- 
gress, Mr.  W.  W.  Corcoran,  the  distinguished  philanthropist, 
with  characteristic  munificence,  endowed  a  professorship  of  nat- 
ural history  in  the  University  of  Virginia,  on  condition  that  the 
institution  should  take  care  of  the  graveyard  at  .Monticello,  thus 
very  appropriately  placing  the  care  of  Jefferson's  tomb  in  the 
hands  of  this  child  of  his  old  age  and  the  last  creation  of  his 
genius." 

Congressman  Manning  said :  "  In  God's  universe  there  per- 
haps never  lived  a  man  who  could  point  to  grander  and  more 
glorious  'testimonials  that  he  had  lived.'  He  was,  indeed, 
tenacious  of  living  among  men  'as  one  that  serveth/  and 
'Heaven,  that  lent  him  genius,  was  repaid.'  He  was  sure  of  his 
reward  through  all  succeeding  generations." 

The  monument  was  erected  last  year,  and  inscribed,  as  was 
the  old  one,  according  to  his  direction.  The  three  things  for 
which  Jefferson  cared  most  to  be  known,  were  those  he  named 
for  his  monument.  It  is  hoped  they  will  stand  perpetual  mon- 
uments of  his  genius  and  humanity. 

At  last  a  fitting  monument  marks  his  resting  place,  erected 
as  it  should  be,  by  .the  nation  he  did  so  much  to  create.  A 
11 


162  OUR  PRESIDENTS. 

fitting  enclosure  is  also  made  of  the  sacred  place,  and  a  suitable 
provision  for  its  care. 

The  old  Jefferson  mansion,  on  the  summit  of  Monticello, 
once  so  brilliant  and  hospitable,  is  now  in  desolate  and  ruinous 
decay.  Thriving  trees  embower  it.  Living  vegetables  and  ani- 
mals are  making  inroads  upon  it.  Ruin  is  seeking  it  for  its  own. 
Unless  arrested,  the  decay  will  before  long  become  complete.  It 
is  a  brick  structure  which  the  tooth  of  time  is  gnawing  at 
effectually. 

There  is  much  that  is  saddening  at  Monticello,  the  contrast 
between  the  past  and  the  present  is  so  great.  It  was  once  so 
much  to  the  country  and  the  world ;  now  it  is  so  little  save  in 
memory. 

If  Monticello,  like  Mount  Vernon,  were  in  the  hands  of 
some  patriotic  national  association,  or  were  owned  by  the 
national  government,  it  could  be  so  cared  for  as  to  invite  vis- 
itors from  every  part  of  the  world,  and  would  still  speak  to  the 
world  of  the  great  principles  for  which  Jefferson  lived.  Jeffer- 
son dead  would  be  as  real  and  powerful  as  Jefferson  living.  It 
is  more  than  likely  that  something  of  this  kind  will  be  realized 
by  and  by,  and  Monticello  will  rise  from  the  dead. 


<  w  vx  vx  vx  VTT  vx  vx  vx  vx  vx  vx  vxivxi  vx  <vx  vx  vx  vx  vx  (V9r  vx  c^x  vxcy>p  c 


CHAPTER  V. 


JAMES  MADISON. 

FOURTH  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

^0  rich  was  the  character  and  so  valuable  is  the  example  of 
James  Madison  that  the  opening  sentence  of  this  sketch 
of  his  career  must  express  the  regret  that  so  little  can 
be  given  of  him  for  want  of  space.  The  fineness  and 
finish  of  his  character,  the  harmony,  intelligence  and 
elevated  moral  tone  of  the  man  were  such  as  put  him 
among  the  choice  spirits  who  have  so  lived  as  to  bless  their  kind 
in  simply  living.  Simply  to  be  such  a  man  as  he  is  to  leave  a 
benediction  behind  as  a  legacy  for  after  years. 

He  was  the  fourth  president;  he  had  been  much  associated 
with  the  three  who  had  gone  before  him;  had  affiliated  more 
or  less  with  them  all;  was  the  personal  friend  of  all,  yet  was  a 
new  character  in  the  exalted  position  of  chief  magistrate  of  a 
great  nation,  and  brought  a  new  personality  and  spirit  to  adorn 
and  honor  the  dignified  place.  No  human  position  can  give 
honor  to  such  a  man.  He  is  himself  honorable  above  all  offices 
or  places.  He  honors  the  highest  place  more  than  it  honors  him. 

ANCESTEY,  YOUTH   AND   EDUCATION. 

Like  the  other  great  Virginians  of  his  time,  James  Madison 
was  of  good  English  stock.  He  was  a  descendant  of  John  Mad- 
ison, an  Englishman,  who  settled  in  Virginia  in  1635,  twenty- 
six  years  after  the  settlement  of  Jamestown,  and  fifteen  years 

163 


164  OUR    PRESIDENTS. 

after  the  landing  on  Plymouth  Rock.  His  father  was  James 
Madison,  of  Orange,  a  planter  of  a  large  estate  and  ample  for- 
tune. His  mother's  maiden  name  was  Eleanor  Comvay. 

James  Madison,  the  president,  was  born  March  16,  1751,  at 
King  George,  Virginia.  He  was  the  eldest  of  seven  children. 
His  boyhood  was  spent  on  his  father's  estate,  in  the  midst  of  the 
cares,  duties,  joys  and  business  of  such  a  family  so  environed. 
He  was  born  into  good  educational  surroundings  for  such  a  boy. 
Being  sensitive,  impressible,  quick  of  mind,  tender  of  heart, 
conscientious,  he  was  quick  to  take  the  lessons  of  such  a  home 
and  its  affairs.  It  was  a  school  to  him  from  the  beginning. 

His  father's  home  was  at  Montpelier,  in  Orange  county, 
which  became  his  in  due  time,  and  his  permanent  home.  The 
school  education  of  the  boy  was  such  as  he  could  get  in  the  rude 
schools  of  his  time,  till  he  began  to  be  specially  prepared  for 
college  at  a  school  in  Kings  and  Queens  county,  taught  by  a 
Scotchman  by  the  name  of  Robertson.  A  portion  of  the  time 
he  had  a  private  tutor  in  his  home. 

In  1769,  his  eighteenth  year,  he  entered  Princeton  college,  Xew 
Jersey,  presided  over  by  Doctor  AVitherspoon,  for  whom  young 
Madison  conceived  a  strong  interest,  and  by  whom  he  was  much 
quickened  and  benefited.  He  always  retained  many  of  the  wise 
sayings  and  fine  thoughts  of  his  college  president.  It  is  one  of 
those  cases  in  which  the  student  absorbs  from  the  teacher  much 
of  his  mental  and  moral  life,  to  be  improved  upon  and  reflected 
through  another  life.  He  never  tired  of  quoting  Doctor  Wither- 
spoon.  He  graduated  in  1772,  taking  the  degree  of  A.B.  in  his 
twenty-first  year.  He  was  but  two  years  at  college,  indicating 
that  he  was  so  thoroughly  fitted  as  to  have  entered  an  advanced 
class,  or  that  the  course  of  study  was  not  so  thorough  as  in  all 
good  colleges  now.  His  biographers  all  speak,  however,  of  the 
intensity  of  his  devotion  to  his  studies  while  in  college,  for  he 
allowed  himself  only  three  hours  sleep  out  of  every  twenty-four, 
at  least  for  a  portion  of  the  time.  This  heavy  work  and  little 
rest,  even  in  two  years,  so  impaired  his  health  that  for  the  most  of 
his  after  life  he  suffered  from  the  strain  and  over-taxation.  It 
doubtless  did  much  to  subdue  and  restrain  his  native  powers, 


JAMES   MADISON.  165 

and  give  him  a  more  placid  and  submissive  temperament  than 
he  otherwise  would  have  had.  His  force  of  character  was  abated, 
his  will  enfeebled  by  this  over-taxation  in  college.  More  time, 
and  more  consistent  use  of  it,  might  have  given  the  country 
quite  a  different  fourth  president. 

After  his  graduation,  he  remained  at  Princton  till  the  next 
spring  to  pursue  a  course  of  reading  under  the  direction  of 
Doctor  Witherspoon.  This  gave  him  the  best  part  of  another 
year,  in  connection  with  the  college  and  its  president  and  their 
stimulating  associations.  Take  it  all  in  all,  his  college  life  gave 
a  commanding  direction  to  his  career.  It  put  his  thoughts  into 
the  line  of  scholarship,  philosophy  and  religion.  It  made  him 
a  thinker,  a  peer  of  the  great  minds  who  think  the  way  for  the 
world  to  pursue. 

In  the  spring  of  1773  young  Madison  returned  to  his  home  in 
Virginia  and  began  a  course  of  legal  reading  to  fit  himself  for  the 
bar.  During  the  time  of  his  legal  study,  he  did  a  large  amount 
of  general  reading.  He  read  Avorks  on  philosophy,  on  belles- 
letters,  and  general  literature.  He  made  a  special  study  of  the 
subject  of  religion,  and  satisfied  himself  upon  the  evidences  of 
the  Christian  religion.  His  nature  would  almost  of  necessity 
lead  him  into  sympathy  with  Christianity,  his  soul  was  such  easy 
soil  for  its  doctrines  to  plant  themselves  in  ;  especially  after  his 
course  at  college  had  so  quickened  his  mind  to  such  studies  and 
meditations.  The  study  of  Christian  evidences  and  doctrines, 
was  a  part  of  his  education,  and  by  that  study  he  was  not  only 
established  in  the  Christian  faith,  but  in  that  judicial  way  of 
thinking  which  fitted  him  for  the  stirring  times  in  which  his 
manhood  was  spent  and  the  noble  and  helpful  part  which  he 
took  in  them.  Just  such  careful,  passionless,  clear-seeing 
thinkers,  are  the  men  who  open  the  way  for  the  on-moving 
march  of  great  events,  and  who  smooth  that  way  also  for  the 
feet  of  the  coming  generations  of  men.  Endowed  with  a  mind 
singularly  free  from  passion  and  prejudice,  naturally  religious 
and  liberty  loving,  sincere  and  hearty  in  every  emotion  and 
thought,  he  came  to  every  subject  to  be  honest  and  faithful  with 
it  and  with  himself.  Quiet,  meditative,  refined  and  peaceful  in 


(66  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

nature,  he  was  unconsciously  fitting  himself  for  a  place  and  work 
which  providence  was  preparing  for  him. 

Later  in  life,,  and  after  much  of  his  fine  and  discriminating 
work  was  done  for  the  help  and  admiration  of  men,  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son gave  a  classic  pen-picture  of  him  which  may  well  be  hung  in 
this  porch  of  his  early  manhood,  that  all  who  enter  may  be  able 
to  see  beforehand  something  of  the  fineness  and  power  of  the 
man  whose  life  they  are  about  to  become  acquainted  with. 

"Trained  in  these  successive  schools,  he  acquired  a  habit  of 
self-possession  which  placed,  at  ready  command,  the  rich 
resources  of  his  luminous  and  discriminating  mind  and  of  his 
extensive  information,  and  rendered  him  the  first  of  every 
assembly  afterward  of  which  he  became  a  member.  Never 
wandering  from  his  subject  into  vain  declamation,  but  pursuing 
it  closely  in  language  pure,  classic  and  copious ;  soothing  always 
the  feelings  of  his  adversaries  by  civilities,  and  softness  of 
expression,  he  rose  to  the  eminent  station  which  he  held  in  the 
great  national  convention  of  1787;  and  in  Virginia,  which  fol- 
lowed, he  sustained  the  new  constitution  in  all  its  parts,  bearing 
off  the  palm  against  the  logic  of  George  Mason  and  the  fervid 
declamation  of  Patrick  Henry.  With  these  consummate  powers 
were  united  a  pure  and  spotless  virtue,  which  no  calumny  has 
ever  attempted  to  sully.  Of  the  power  and  polish  of  his  pen, 
and  of  the  wisdom  of  his  administration  in  the  highest  office  of. 
the  nation,  I  need  say  nothing.  They  have  spoken  and  will 
forever  speak  for  themselves." 

ENTRANCE   UPON   PUBLIC   LIFE. 

Mr.  Madison  did  not  complete  his  legal  studies,  partly 
because  his  tastes  led  him  to  such  a  wide  range  of  reading  in 
other  directions,  a"hd  partly  because  an  opportunity  to  serve  an 
oppressed  party  awakened  his  sympathies. 

At  that  time  the  church  of  England  held  as  absolute  sway  ir 
Virginia  as  ever  it  did  in  England.  It  was  the  established 
church,  sustained  by  a  tax  upon  property  which  was  collected  by 
the  officers  of  the  law,  the  same  as  other  taxes.  Its  ministers 
were  legal  officers  and  drew  their  support  alike  from  church 


JAMES  MADISON.  167 

members  and  non-church  members,  alike  from  Episcopalians 
and  believers  in  other  creeds  and  churches. 

After  a  while,  believers  in  other  churches  began  to  increase 
in  Virginia,  among  them  Baptists,  who  supported  their  own 
churches  by  voluntary  contributions  and  then  were  forced  to  pay 
taxes  for  the  support  of  the  Episcopalian  church,  in  which  they 
did  not  believe.  The  Baptists  claimed  that  they  ought  to  be 
relieved  from  this  forced  Episcopalian  tax,  that  it  was  an  intol- 
erant oppression  unworthy  of  free  America.  In  due  time  this 
Baptist  claim  raised  a  warm  debate.  It  was  sometimes  fierce, 
and  the  Baptists  had  to  learn  by  experience  the  full  meaning  of 
religious  intolerance.  Young  Madison  took  the  side  of  the 
Baptists  in  the  debate,  not  from  sympathy  with  them  in 
religious  opinions,  but  because  he  regarded  religion  as  a  matter 
of  conscience  in  which  every  man  should  be  free.  His  honest 
and  zealous  advocacy  of  a  cause  in  which  his  family  and  class 
associates  were  against  him,  attracted  much  notice  and  put  him 
conspicuously  before  the  public  as  a  young  man  who  had  volun- 
tarily adopted  an  unpopular  cause  in  his  first  public  act.  Of 
course  he  won  friends  among  the  persecuted  Baptists  at  once, 
and  among  all  right  thinking  people  at  last. 

In  the  spring  of  1776,  in  the  twenty-sixth  year  of  his  age,  he 
was  elected  to  serve  in  the  convention  to  form  a  constitution  for 
the  state  of  Virginia.  This  was  the  year  of  the  declaration  of 
independence,  just  when  the  principles  of  civil  liberty,  national 
life,  and  local  and  general  law  were  being  discussed.  With  his 
training  in  study  and  observation,  he  was  fitted  to  get  the  great- 
est possible  personal  benefit  from  this  practical  application  of  all 
he  had  learned  to  the  actual  business  of  forming  the  funda- 
mental law  of  a  state.  It  brought  him  .into  daily  association 
with  the  best  minds  of  Virginia  and  to  a  daily  discussion  of  the 
principles  of  statecraft,  a  school  of  itself  of  magnificent 
instructive  power.  He  was  timid  and  retiring ;  said  but  little, 
but  studied  and  thought  much. 

The  next  year,  1777,  he  was  a  candidate  to  the  state 
assembly.  He  refused  to  treat  the  whisky-drinking  voters,  and 
some  said  he  was  not  a  public  speaker,  because  he  had  kept  so 


168  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

silent  in  the  constitutional  convention,  and  so  he  was  not 
elected.  But  those  who  had  served  with  him  in  the  convention, 
and  had  witnessed  the  talents,  energy,  learning  and  fidelity  of 
the  modest  young  man,  interested  themselves  in  securing  his 
ability  in  the  public  service,  and  obtained  his  appointment  as  a 
member  of  the  executive  council.  In  this  capacity  he  served 
under  Patrick  Henry  and  Thomas  Jefferson  who,  learning  his 
great  worth,  became  his  powerful  friends  for  the  whole  of  their 
lives. 

MADE  A   MEMBER  OF  THE  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS. 

In  the  year  1780  Mr.  Madison  was  elected  to  the  Continental 
Congress,  in  the  twenty-mnth  year  of  his  age.  He  was  yet  a  young 
man  and  had  given  three  years  to  the  service  of  his  native  state 
in  the  organization  and  admistration  of  its  government.  Now 
he  was  in  the  great  council  of  the  forming  nation,  among  its 
greatest  men,  and  having  a  share  in  the  conduct  of  its  greatest 
affairs.  The  war  had  so  far  proceeded  that  it  must  be  pushed 
through  to  final  victory  or  defeat.  America  must  be  a  country 
of  freemen  or  slaves.  With  such  young  men  as  Mr.  Madison, 
the  question  had  but  one  side:  America  must  be  free.  So  their 
minds  were  occupied  with  plans  for  the  government  of  the  new 
nation.  This  was  especially  so  with  ytrung  Madison.  He  had  a 
constructive  mind.  He  saw  that  the  old  forms  of  government 
had  gone  to  pieces,  and  new  ones  must  be  put  in  their  places. 
To  this  constructive  work  he  bent  all  his  energies.  Beared  in 
the  most  aristocratic  society  in  America,  such  was  the  freedom 
and  originality  of  his  mind  that  he  adopted  the  broadest  and 
most  humane  ways  of  thinking.  He  went  to  every  question  as 
to  a  fresh  study,  with  little  reference  to  what  had  been  the 
prevailing  opinion  upon  it.  He  served  three  years  in  Congress, 
which  included  the  close  of  the  war  and  the  treaty  of  peace. 

ELECTED   TO   THE   VIRGINIA    LEGISLATURE. 

In  1784  Mr.  Madison  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Virginia 
Legislature.  Now  that  peace  and  freedom  were  secured,  the  work 


JAMES   MADISON.  169 

of  government  construction  was  fairly  begun.  To  this  work:  ne 
carried  all  his  power.  Virginia  was  English  to  the  core;  it  must 
be  made  American  and  republican  to  the  core.  He  advocated  such 
a  thorough  revision  of  the  old  statutes  as  would  make  them  con- 
form to  the  new  republican  order  of  society.  It  was  hard  for 
the  tories  to  submit  to  these  radical  changes;  and  every  change 
had  to  be  secured  by  a  hard  battle  of  words  and  votes.  The  war 
of  swords  and  cannon  had  been  changed  to  a  war  of  arguments 
and  ballots.  The  war  was  not  over  by  any  means.  The  tories, 
who  had  lost  all  in  the  field,  now  meant  to  gain  what  they  could 
in  the  legislatures.  Into  this  legislature  came  the  final  settle- 
ment of  the  question  of  religious  freedom  in  Virginia,  which 
brought  Mr.  Madison,  as  a  young  man,  into  public  notice.  He 
published  a  "Memorial  and  Kemonstrance "  against  a  general 
and  legal  assessment  for  the  support  of  religion,  which  was  so 
able  and  exhaustive  that  it  essentially  settled  the  matter,  and 
religion  became  as  free  in  Virginia  as  elsewhere.  Church  and 
state  were  separated,  to  coalesce  naturally  and  freely  in  their 
inner  principles  and  life,  and  become  mutual  supports  to  each 
other. 

He  served  in  the  legislature  three  years,  during  which  time 
Kentucky  was  separated  from  Virginia  and  erected  into  a  state 
by  his  aid.  He  opposed  the  introduction  of  paper  money; 
favored  the  legal  code  proposed  by  Jefferson,  Wythe  and  Pen- 
dleton;  and  supported  the  recovery  of  debts  due  to  British 
creditors. 

In  January,  1786,  Mr.  Madison  offered  a  resolution  inviting 
the  several  states  to  send  delegates  to  a  convention  to  meet  at 
Annapolis,  to  consider  a  reorganization  of  the  general  govern- 
ment of  the  country.  Such  a  convention  was  held,  but  only 
five  states  sent  delegates.  But  though  the  number  was  too 
small  to  act  authoritatively  for  all  the  states,  the  delegates 
present  discussed  the  condition  and  needs  of  the  country  and 
resolved  upon  a  movement  for  a  convention  the  next  year  to 
form  a  constitution.  The  proposition  was  generally  accepted 
by  the  states, 


170  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 


A   CONSTITUTIONAL   CONVENTION 

was  called  for  May,  1787.  The  convention  met  in  Philadelphia. 
Mr.  Madison  was  chosen  as  one  of  the  delegates  from  Virginia. 
Washington  was  another,  and  was  elected  president  of  the  con- 
vention.  It  met  at  the  appointed  time  —  one  of  the  most  able, 
earnest,  conscientious  and  dignified  bodies  of  men  ever  as'-em- 
bled.  It  was  an  assembly  of  giants — "of  demigods,"  as  Jefferson 
said.  Nor  were  the  men  greater  than  the  occasion  The  old 
confederation  of  states  had  proved  itself  inadequate  in  many 
particulars.  It  was  a  body  without  a  head.  It  was  a  govern- 
ment by  congress,  in  session  only  a  part  of  a  time,  a  government 
without  system  or  fundamental  law.  So  poorly  did  it  work 
that  many  were  losing  confidence  in  popular  government.  In 
many  of  the  best  minds  there  was  a  turning  back  to  monarchy 
as  the  only  hope  of  stability  and  peace.  Those  of  tory  proclivi- 
ties were  beginning  to  say:  "I  told  you  so;  the  people  are  too 
unstable  to  know  what  they  want."  The  call  for  a  stronger 
government  was  getting  loud.  The  time  had  fully  come  when 
something  must  be  done,  or  the  fruits  of  the  long  war  might  be 
lost  in  anarchy  and  disunion,  and  the  hope  of  free  government 
postponed  for  a  long  time.  The  great  men  who  met  in  that 
convention  realized  the  importance  of  their  work.  They  were 
the  patriots,  who,  for  country  and  humanity,  had  staked  every- 
thing in  resistance  of  British  tyranny  and  who  now  were  in 
danger  of  losing  everything  in  popular  incapacity  and  anarchy. 
And  yet  the  difficulty  was  not  in  the  people,  but  in  their  having 
no  systematic  way  of  conducting  their  government. 

Mr.  Madison,  probably  more  than  any  other  man,  realized 
the  importance  and  greatness  of  the  work  of  this  convention. 
He  had  conceived  and  proposed  it.  It  had  struck  the  popular 
heart  from  the  beginning.  The  people  hoped  for  relief  and 
safety  from  it.  From  the  moment  of  its  conception,  the  study 
of  a  plan  of  a  constitution,  became  a  profound  meditation  with 
Mr.  Madison.  For  two  years  he  studied  and  sketched  and  con- 
sulted other  minds  and  wrought  at  his  plan. 

Among  General  Washington's  papers  was.  found  one,  after 


JAMES  MADISON.  171 

his  death,  in  his  own  writing,  purporting  to  be  the  substance  of 
a  constitution,  which  Mr.  Madison  conceived  to  be  about  what 
was  needed,  and  had  written  to  him  in  a  letter  some  time  before 
the  convention.  Mr.  Madison's  letter  has  never  been  found. 
The  portion  of  it  which  Washington  transcribed  is  as  follows : 
"Mr.  Madison  thinks  an  individual  independence  of  the 
states  utterly  irreconcilable  with  their  aggregate  sovereignty, 
and  that  a  consolidation  of  the  whole  into  one  simple  republic 
would  be  as  inexpedient  as  it  is  unattainable.  He  therefore 
proposes  a  middle  ground,  which  may  at  once  support  a  due 
supremacy  of  the  national  authority  and  not  exclude  the  local 
authorities  whenever  they  can  be  subordinately  useful. 

"As  the  groundwork,  he  proposes  ihsat  a  change  be  made  in 
the  principle  of  representation,  and  thinks  there  would  be  no 
great  difficulty  in  effecting  it. 

"  Next,  that  in  addition  to  the  present  federal  powers,  the 
national  government  should  be  armed  with  positive  and  com- 
plete authority  in  all  cases  which  require  uniformity ;  such  as 
regulation  of  trade,  including  the  right  of  taxing  both  exports 
and  imports,  the  fixing  the  terms  and  forms  of  naturaliza- 
tion, etc. 

"  Over  and  above  this  positive  power,  a  negative^  in  all  cases 
whatever,  on  the  legislative  acts  of  the  states,  as  heretofore 
exercised  by  the  kingly  prerogative,  appears  to  him  absolutely 
necessary,  and  to  be  the  least  possible  encroachment  on  the 
state  jurisdictions.  Without  this  defensive  power,  he  conceives 
that  every  positive  law  which  can  be  given  on  paper  will  be 
evaded. 

"This  control  over  the  laws  would  prevent  the  internal 
vicissitudes  of  state  policy  and  the  aggressions  of  interested 
majorities. 

"The  natural  supremacy  ought  also  to  oe  extended,  he 
thinks,  to  the  judiciary  departments;  the  oaths  of  the  judges 
should  at  least  include  a  fidelity  to  the  general  as  well  as  local 
constitution;  and  that  an  appeal  should  be  to  some  national 
tribunal  in  all  cases  to  which  foreigners  or  inhabitants  of  other 


172  OUR    PRESIDENTS. 

states  may  be  parties.  The  admiralty  jurisdictions  to  fall 
entirely  within  the  purview  of  the  national  government. 

"The  national  supremacy  in  the  executive  departments  is 
liable  to  some  difficulty,  unless  the  officers  administering  them 
could  be  made  appointable  by  the  supreme  government.  The 
militia  ought  entirely  to  be  placed,  in  some  form  or  other,  under 
the  authority  which  is  entrusted  with  the  general  defense. 

"A  government  composed  of  such  extensive  powers  should 
be  well  organized  and  balanced. 

"  The  legislative  departments  might  be  divided  into  two 

branches,  one  of  them  chosen  every years,  by  the  people 

at  large,  or  by  the  legislatures;  the  other  to  consist  of  fewer 
members,  and  to  hold  their  places  for  a  longer  term,  and  to  go 
out  in  such  rotation  as  always  to  leave  in  office  a  large  majority 
of  old  members. 

"  Perhaps  the  negative  on  the  laws  might  be  most  con- 
veniently exercised  by  this  branch. 

"  As  a  further  check,  a  council  of  revision,  including  the 
great  ministerial  officers,  might  be  superadded. 

"A  national  executive  must  also  be  provided.  He  has 
scarcely  ventured  as  yet  to  form  his  own  opinion,  either  of  the 
manner  in  wJiich  it  ought  to  be  constituted,  or  of  the  authori- 
ties with  which  it  ought  to  be  clothed. 

"An  article,  especially  guaranteeing  the  tranquility  of  the 
states  against  internal  as  well  as  external  dangers. 

"In  like  manner  the  right  of  coercion  should  be  expressly 
declared.  With  the  resources  of  commerce  in  hand,  the 
national  administration  might  always  find  means  of  exerting  it 
either  by  sea  or  land ;  but  the  difficulty  and  awkwardness  of 
operating  by  force  on  the  collective  will  of  a  state,  render  it  par- 
ticularly desirable  that  the  necessity  of  it  might  be  precluded. 
Perhaps  the  negative  on  the  laws  might  create  such  a  mutual 
dependence  between  the  general  and  particular  authorities  as  to 
answer ;  or  perhaps  some  defined  objects  of  taxation  might  be 
submitted  along  with  commerce,  to  the  general  authority. 

"To  give  a  new  system  its  proper  validity  and  energy,  a 
ratification  must  be  obtained  from  the  people,  and  not  merely 


JAMES   MADISON.       .  173 

from  the  ordinary  authority  of  the  legislatures.  This  will  be 
more  essential,  as  inroads  on  the  existing  constitutions  of  the 
states  will  be  unavoidable." 

Probably  no  other  man  in  the  country  made  such  preparation 
for  the  convention  as  did  Mr.  Madison.  He  gave  the  many  sub- 
jects to  be  considered  careful  and  earnest  study.  He  made,  at 
least,  this  outline  of  what  he  thought  should  go  into  the  consti- 
tution. Anyone  who  will  compare  this  outline  with  the  actual 
constitution  will  see  how  much  of  Mr.  Madison's  suggestion 
went  in.  Some  of  his  suggestions  were  left  out,  that  perhaps 
would  better  have  gone  in.  It  is  clear  that  he  wanted  a  strong 
government,  a  supreme  government  over  the  states  in  all  that 
pertained  to  its  functions.  He  did  not  intend  to  have  secession, 
or  disunion,  possible  by  any  of  the  states. 

The  great  question  of  the  time  was,  how  much  of  the  gen- 
eral power  of  government  shall  be  given  to  the  states,  and  how 
much  to  the  general  government.  The  federalists  wanted  a 
strong  central  government ;  the  high  federalists  wanted  it  abso- 
lute. The  republicans  wanted  to  keep  the  power  near  the 
people,  in  the  states  as  much  as  possible  and  not  have  a  general 
government  at  all.  Washington,  Madison,  Adams,  and 
especially  Hamilton  and  Morris,  wanted  strength  in  the  general 
government.  The  two  latter  were  high  federalists  of  the 
strongest  type.  Madison  was  a  moderate  federalist,  at  this  time. 
Later,  he  inclined  more  to- trust  the  people,  and  became  a  mod- 
erate republican.  Whatever  partisan  he  was,  he  was  moderate. 
He  had  a  cool,  judicial,  constructive  mind,  which  kept  him  from 
party  extremes  and  usually  on  the  middle  ground  of  modera- 
tion. He  was  in  close  sympathy  with  Washington.  Their 
spirits  were  in  accord,  only  Washington  was  more  a  man  of 
action,  while  Madison  was  more  a  man  of  meditation.  In  the 
formation  of  the  constitution  he  sought  to  put  strength  into  the 
general  government  over  the  states,  in  all  that  was  peculiarly 
national.  He  wanted  a  nation,  a  union  that  was  indissoluble  — 
not  only  a  union  of  states  but  of  all  the  people.  For  national 
purposes,  he  would  have  state  lines  in  abeyance.  The  old  con- 
federacy was  too  weak  as  a  national  compact.  It  was  too  much 


174  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

subject  to  state  dictation.  All  the  wise  men  were  feeling  this  ; 
so  much  so  that  many  were  beginning  to  swing  back  toward 
monarchical  institutions.  The  states  were  jealous  of  their 
rights,  and  in  the  convention  sought  to  keep  them  strong. 
'Under  the  confederacy,  they  had  been  almost  supreme.  They 
were  slow  to  give  up  prerogatives  to  the  general  government. 
This,  then,  was  the  great  thing  to  adjust,  the  proper  balance 
between  the  state  governments  and  the  general  government. 
Mr.  Madison  did  not  secure  all  he  desired  for  the  general  gov.- 
ernment.  And  the  experience  of  a  hundred  years  has  proved 
that  the  general  government  has  been  often  put  to  the  strain  in 
just  those  places  where  he  wanted  it  stronger.  Its  weakest 
place  was  against  the  states.  And  it  was  just  at  this  point 
that  the  rebellion  of  1861  came  in.  Here  too  was  where  South 
Carolina  nullification  set  up  its  claim  in  the  administration  of 
Andrew  Jackson.  It  was  over  this  that  the  great  arguments  of 
Haynes  and  Webster  were  made.  There  has  always  been  a  class 
of  politicians  who  have  claimed  more  for  the  states  than  the 
general  government  could  safely  grant.  This  weakness  in  the 
constitution,  allowed  against  Mr.  Madison's  judgment,  has 
always  been  a  bone  of  contention  and  cost  us  one  great  civil 
war.  Our  experience  has  proved  how  wise  was  the  great  orig- 
inal outliner  of  the  constitution.  Gradually  its  special  amend- 
ments have  fortified  its  original  weakness.  Experience  has 
proved  that  the  moderate  federalists  were  essentially  right  in 
their  notion  of  the  necessity  of  strength  in  the  general  govern- 
ment, and  that  our  danger  has  come  from  a  too  little  governed 
democracy.  As  between  the  dangers  of  monarchy  on  one  side 
and  democracy  on  the  other,  America  has  been  most  exposed  to 
the  latter.  Her  chief  danger  still  lies  in  that  direction.  A 
strong  and  just  government  usually  makes  a  happy  people,  just 
as  a  well-governed  family  or  school  is  usually  happy.  So  essen- 
tial was  the  part  that  Mr.  Madison  acted  in  the  constitutional 
convention  that  he  has  been  called  "The  Father  of  the  Consti- 
tution." He  seems  to  have  been  raised  up  for  this  special  work 
as  Washington  was  to  lead  the  armies,  and  Jefferson  to  draft 
the  declaration  of  independence  and  Adams  to  argue  the  way 


JAME6  MADISON.  175 

to  its  adoption.  And  of  all  the  work  done  by  the  founders  of 
this  great  nation,  nothing  ever  has  been  more  important  than 
the  constitution  of  the  United  States.  It  is  the  great  charter  of 
our  nationality,  the  most  magnificent  work  of  human  wisdom 
yet  done  in  this  world.  The  nations  have  not  yet  sufficiently 
appreciated  it ;  nor  have  our  own  people  yet  done  full  justice  to 
the  mind,  character  and  life  of  James  Madison,  who  is  as  liter- 
ally the  father  of  the  constitution  as  "Washington  is  of  the 
country. 

THE   FEDERALIST. 

After  the  constitution  was  formed,  a  series  of  state  papers 
was  written  in  its  explanation  and  defense,  and  published  all 
over  the  country,  and  read  and  studied  with  more  profound 
interest,  than  any  such  papers  ever  put  forth  in  this  country. 
After  their  first  publication,  they  were  gathered  into  a  book 
entitled:  "The  Federalist."  They  became  authority  for  the 
meaning  and  philosophy  of  the  constitution.  Their  intellectual 
power,  their  clear  elucidation  of  the  intent  and  scope  of  the 
constitution,  were  so  marked  that  they  have  always  been  held 
as  master  pieces  of  political  philosophy.  They  were  produced 
by  Alexander  Hamilton,  James  Madison  and  John  Jay.  Hamil- 
ton is  supposed  to  have  made  the  first  draft  of  more  of  them 
than  either  of  the  others,  and  Madison  next.  But  none  of  them 
went  to  press  till  the  three  had  agreed  in  all  their  statements. 
They  were  thus  the  joint  product  of  the  three  minds.  As  Mr. 
Madison  was  the  mover  in  and  originator  of  more  of  the  con^ 
stitution  than  any  other,  his  part  in  "The 'Federalist/'  is 
apparent. 

No  thoughtful  young  American  should  consider  himself 
equipped  as  a  citizen,  till  he  has  not  only  read,  but  studied, 
"  The  Federalist." 

A   MEMBER  OF   CONGRESS. 

In  1789,  the  time  when  the  constitution  went  into  operation, 
Mr.  Madison  was  made  a  member  of  Congress.  He  thus  began 
with  Washington  the  conduct  of  the  new  government.  Mr. 


176  OUR    PRESIDENTS. 

Hamilton  was  Washington's  secretary  of  the  treasury.  The  coun- 
try was  in  a  bad  financial  condition;  debts  everywhere,  and  nothing 
to  pay  them  with.  Mr.  Hamilton  was  a  bold  operator  and  full 
of  great  schemes.  His  financial  plans  did  not  meet  Mr.  Madi- 
son's approval;  so  he  was  forced  into  the  attitude  of  opposition 
to  many  of  the  things  of  AVashington's  administration;  but  his 
opposition  was  so  tempered  with  friendly  consideration,  that  it 
did  not  disturb  the  good  relations  between  the  father  of  his 
country  and  the  father  of  the  constitution.  He  served  in  Con- 
gress eight  years.  During  Mr.  Adams'  administration,  "The 
alien  and  sedition  laws"  Avere  passed,  and  other  high  federalist 
measures,  which  became  unpopular.  Mr.  Madison  drafted  two 
series  of  resolutions  against  them,  one  as  a  private  citizen  in 
1798,  and  one  as  a  member  of  the  Virginia  legislature  in  1799, 
which  had  a  powerful  influence  against  the  federal  rule  and  for 
the  speedy  triumph  of  the  democratic  party  under  Jefferson. 

SECRETARY   OF   STATE. 

Thomas  Jefferson  was  elected  president  of  the  United  States 
in  1801.  He  appointed  Mr.  Madison  secretary  of  state,  which 
office  he  held  during  the  eight  years  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  service. 
Scarcely  could  Mr.  Jefferson  have  made  a  wiser  choice.  Mr. 
Jefferson  was  a  man  of  strong  impulses  and  radical  action  and 
speech.  He  was  liable,  under  provocation,  to  be  an  extremist. 
He  was  elected  as  a  radical  democrat;  whom  the  high  federalists 
regarded  as  a  leveler,  a  Jacobin,  a  contemner  of  law  and  religion. 
They  dreaded  his  election  as  they  would  that  of  Lucifer. 
Extreme  feelings  were  in  the  ascendant.  Mr.  Madison  had  all 
along  been  a  moderate  federalist;  was  a  moderate  man  always; 
was  profoundly  respected  by  all  parties;  was  one  of  the  authors 
of  "  The  Federalist,"  which  was  that  party's  political  bible.  His 
appointment  to  the  first  office  in  the  cabinet  was  an  assurance  of 
moderation  in  the  democratic  president,  and  encouraged  the 
federalists  to  hope  that  all  was  not  lost.  And  this,  which 
worked  so  well  in  the  beginning,  worked  equally  well  through 
the  whole  administration. 


JAMES  MADISON.  177 


FOURTH   PRESIDENT. 

Mr.  Madison  succeeeded  Mr.  Jefferson  as  president?  in  1809, 
being  the  fourth  to  hold  that  high  office.  He  went  in  with  a 
strong  majority,  having  one  hundred  and  twenty-two  votes  out 
of  one  hundred  and  seventy-six. 

He  took  the  great  office  at  a  gloomy  period.  The  domestic 
affairs  of  the  nation  were  getting  more  peaceful.  The  people 
were  learning  self-government,  and  learning  to  have  more  con- 
fidence in  each  other  and  their  government.  They  were  learn- 
ing too  not  to  see  ruin  in  each  others'  opinions ;  not  to  see  a 
throne  in  a  federalist's  opinions ;  nor  a  French  revolution  in  a 
democrat's.  But  there  was  trouble  brewing  with  England.  She 
had  never  been  satisfied  with  the  result  of  the  revolution  ;  had 
been  sulky  and  sour  ever  since,  and  making  herself  disagreeable 
to  her  former  colonists.  She  deemed  herself  mistress  of  the  seas, 
and  that  other  nations,  especially  her  old  colonists,  had  no  rights 
that  she  was  bound  to  respect.  So  she  infringed  on  American 
rights  on  the  high  seas ;  went  aboard  American  merchant  vessels, 
when  she  pleased,  and  took  off  such  of  the  crews  as  she  thought 
would  make  good  soldiers,  and  forced  them  into  her  army  and 
navy  to  fight  her  battles;  and  did  all  such  things  [as  she  chose, 
without  any  respect  for  her  treaty  obligations. 

Various  appeals  and  measures  were  adopted  to  rectify  these 
grievous  wrongs;  but  all  to  no  effect.  With  a  high  hand,  Eng- 
land kept  going  on  her  own  way;  impressing  our  seamen  into 
her  service  whenever  it  suited  her  necessities;  and  doing  many 
other  unworthy  acts.  Mr.  Madison  was  peaceful,  and  dreaded 
war;  and  so  went  on  a  couple  of  years,  bearing  and  persuading; 
but  all  to  no  purpose.  By  this  time  his  party  had  a  strong  ma- 
jority in  Congress.  Among  the  leaders  were  such  men  as  Henry 
Clay,  John  C.  Calhoun,  Crawford,  Lowndes,  and  others  like 
them.  They  said:  "We  must  fight  the  old  oppressor.  She  will 
never  do  right  till  we  compel  her  to."  So  they  began  a  move- 
ment for  creating  an  army  and  navy,  and  getting  ready  the 
munitions  of  war;  and  pushed  it  on  till  they  felt  the  time  had 
come  to  begin  to  strike  again  military  blows  for  our  rights. 

is 


178  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 


WAR  WITH  ENGLAND. 

In  Jtfne,  1812,  Congress  declared  war  against  England. 

President  Madison  gave  a  message  to  Congress  and  the  country, 
detailing  at  length  the  belligerent  course  of  England  for  years 
toward  the  United  States,  while  the  United  States  had  remained 
at  peace  toward  her. 

Under  pretence  of  searching  for  British  subjects,  she  nad 
impressed  thousands  of  our  seamen,  transported  them  to  other 
and  deadly  climes;  had  compelled  them  to  expose  their  lives  in 
battle  and  endure  every  hardship  in  foreign  services;  had  sub- 
jected them  to  the  severest  discipline;  her  cruisers  had  violated 
the  rights  of  peace  on  our  coasts,  by  harrassing  our  outgoing 
and  incoming  vessels  of  commerce;  had  wantonly  spilt  American 
blood  within  the  territory  of  our  jurisdiction ;  had  blockaded 
ports  without  the  presence  of  adequate  force,  cutting  off  our 
markets  and  injuring  our  commerce;  had  invaded  the  rights  of 
neutrals;  and  rendered  all  trade  on  the  seas  precarious  and  dan- 
gerous. To  all  our  appeals  for  redress  she  has  only  returned 
insult.  The  message  was  long  and  able,  and  summed  the  whole 
cause  of  war. 

It  was  thirty  years  since  the  revolutionary  war;  the  old  war- 
riors were  dead.  No  new  ones  had  been  made  in  their  stead. 
None  of  the  living  generation  knew  much  about  war. 

The  first  campaigns,  therefore,  were  only  defeats;  or  perhaps 
schools  of  discipline  for  the  final  victory.  Then,  as  in  our  late 
war,  our  soldiers  and  officers  had  to  be  made.  The  first  battles 
went  against  us.  The  first  campaigns  gave  encouragement  to 
the  enemy;  but  as  soon  as  time  and  necessity  could  drill  our 
soldiers,  and  select  well  our  officers,  England  found  that  the 
sons  of  her  colonies  were  as  hard  to  conquer,  as  were  their 
fathers. 

The  war  was  pushed  on  vigorously  for  nearly  three  years, 
when  a  treaty  of  peace  was  signod  at  Ghent,  on  the  twenty-fourth 
of  December,  1814.  On  the  eighth  day  of  January,  1815,  Gen- 
eral Jackson  gained  his  decisive  victory,  over  the  British,  at  New 
Orleans.  In  February,  1815,  r.ows  of  peace  readied  Washing- 


JAMES  MADISON.  179 

ton.  Great  was  the  rejoicing  all  over  the  country.  The  war 
was  strongly  opposed  by  the  federalists,  who  did  many  things  in 
opposition  to  itx  which  rendered  them  unpopular;  and  brought 
utter  defeat  upon  their  party. 

Early  in  1815,  a  treaty  of  commerce  was  signed  at  London, 
by  Messrs.  Adams,  Clay  and  Gallatin,  which  restored  friendly 
intercourse  between  the  two  countries,  never,  we  may  hope,  to 
be  broken  up  again  by  the  barbarous  scourge  of  war. 

Mr.  Madison's  administration  went  on  satisfactorily  through 
his  two  terms.  After  the  war,  a  national  bank  was  established 
with  a  capital  of  thirty-five  millions ;  a  tariff  for  the  promotion 
of  manufactures  was  adopted,  and  the  country  well  started  on 
that  tide  of  prosperity  that  has  not  yet  abated. 

RETIREMENT  IN"   1817. 

Mr.  Madison  retired  to  Montpelier,  his  home,  in  March, 
1817,  at  sixty-six  years  of  age.  Twelve  years  later  he  served  in 
the  Virginia  convention  for  the  revision  of  the  constitution. 
With  that  exception  the  rest  of  his  life  was  spent  in  the  quiet  of 
his  home,  in  the  enjoyment  of  his  friends,  his  books,  and  the 
national  life  and  peace  he  had  spent  so  much  of  his  life  to 
secure. 

Like  Jefferson,  he  was  interested  in  the  University  of  Vir- 
ginia, and  was  for  a  time  its  rector. 

He  died  June  28,  183G,  eighty-five  years  and  three 
months  old. 

He  was  never  of  robust  health,  which  made  his  life  less 
robust  and  influential  than  it  would  have  been  if  he  had  had 
the  physical  stamina  that  was  needed  to  work  up  to  its  best  his 
fine  mind. 

He  was  of  moderate  stature;  moderate  of  speech;  of  serious, 
but  mild  expression;  his  head  was  bald  on  the  top;  he  waa 
modest,  but  companionable ;  made  many  friends ;  a  few,  if  any, 
enemies.  He  went  into  retirement  in  the  universal  respect  ot 
his  countrymen,  and  bore  that  respect  ever  after. 


180  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 


MRS.    MADISON. 

Mrs.  Madison's  maiden  name  was  Dolly  Payne.  She  was  born 
in  North  Carolina,  of  Quaker  parents,  and  educated  strictly  in 
their  faith  and  ways  of  life.  When  about  eighteen  she  married 
a  young  lawyer  by  the  name  of  Todd,  and  moved  to  Phila- 
delphia. There  she  laid  aside  the  Quaker  garb  and  became  a 
fashionable  young  woman  of  city  society.  Her  husband  lived 
but  a  little  while,  and  she  was  left  in  the  morning  of  her  life  a 
widow. 

When  Mr.  Madison  was  attending  Congress  in  New  York 
city,  in  the  forty-third  year  of  his  age,  he  met  the  blooming  and 
somewhat;  gay  Mrs.  Todd.  Like  many  others,  he  was  taken 
with  her  fascinations.  In  his  early  }Tears  he  had  an  unfortunate 
love  experience,  and  had  supposed  himself  proof  against  cupid's 
darts  from  every  quarter;  but  now  he  was  struck,  and  badly  so, 
by  a  dart  from  this  young  widow's  quiver.  In  due  time  he  won  the 
coveted  sprize,  and  was  married  to  her  in  1794.  And  she  proved 
a  prize  indeed.  She  is  spoken  of  by  those  who  knew  her  as 
elegant  and  queenly  in  person  and  manner;  as  beautiful, 
sprightly,  intelligent,  and  every  way  worthy.  Her  peculiar  power 
was  in  social  life.  She  was  the  beau  ideal  of  a  court  lady  of  the 
time,  genial,  kindly,  the  grace  and  warmth  and  sprightliness  of 
society.  She  was  peculiarly  thoughtful  to  the  timid,  young  and 
unfortunate;  was  as  warm  of  heart  as  sprightly  in  spirit.  While 
Mr.  Madison  was  secretary  of  state  under  Mr.  Jefferson,  she 
did  the  honors  of  the  president's  house,  as  he  was  without  a 
wife.  Then,  as  Mr.  Madison  came  in,  she  was  already  installed 
in  her  place  of  honor  and  helpfulness,  and  continued  through 
his  two  terms,  making  sixteen  years  as  the  lady  of  the  executive 
mansion — the  longest  term  that  any  lady  has  occupied  that 
place.  And  none  has  more  graced  it,  or  rendered  herself  more 
helpful  in  it.  In  their  retirement  at  Montpelier  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Madison  tasted  all  the  sweets  of  their  well-earned  honors.  Happy 
in  each  other,  and  necessary  to  each  other ;  they  were  rich  in 
money,  goods  and  friends;  had  both  their  widowed  mothers  and 
two  orphan  sisters  of  Mrs.  Madison  in  their  household,  all  in 


JAMES   MADISON".  181 

t.  e  enjoyment  of  comfortable  health.  Their  home  was  the 
resort  of  the  wisest  and  best,  whom  they  received  with  grace 
and  hospitality. 

Take  them  all  in  all,  few  lives  of  men  present  better  models 
for  men  and  women  to  copy  than  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Madison.  They 
were  delightful  people,  lifted  high  up  in  the  world,  yet  humble; 
intellectual  and  in  many  ways  brilliant,  yet  in  sweet  sympathy 
with  all  common  people;  rich,  yet  they  gave  their  lives  to  the 
world  in  a  cheerful  and  laborious  fellow  service;  brought  up  in 
wealth,  yet  never  proud ;  official  partisans,  yet  honored  and 
loved  by  all  parties;  devoted  to  an  established  church,  yet  the 
ardent  friends  of  religious  liberty;  descendants  of  an  ancient  aris- 
tocracy, yet  democrats  in  life  and  spirit.  The  author  of  this  too 
hasty  sketch  can  scarcely  refrain  from  asking  the  readers  of  this 
to  seek  Mr.  Madison's  life  and  works  and  make  them  a  study. 

It  ought  to  have  been  said,  in  its  place,  that  Mr.  Madison 
kept  a  full  record  of  the  proceedings  of  the  constitutional  con- 
vention, the  only  one  ever  kept  and  preserved,  and  that  after 
his  death  Congress  purchased  it  of  Mrs.  Madison,  paying  her 
thirty  thousand  dollars.  She  survived  Mr.  Madison  thirteen 
years.  She  died  July  12,  1849,  in  the  eighty-second  year  of  her 
age. 


f  HE  URAVE  OF  IAMES  J!ADISON. 

Four  miles  from  Orange,  Virginia,  is  Montpelier,  the  nome 
of  James  Madison,  which  he  inherited  when  a  child  from  his 
father.  It  is  in  one  of  the  most  picturesque  and  softly  beauti- 
ful regions  of  this  state.  Gentle  undulations  of  hill  and  dale, 
and  wavy  outlines  of  low  mountain  ranges,  surround  it.  Lawn, 
tree  and  shrubbery,  field,  wood  and  hillside,  give  softness  and 
diversity  to  the  scene.  Here  lived  and  died  the  fourth  Presi- 
dent and  his  beautiful  and  accomplished  wife,  and  here  rest 
their  mortal  forms. 

The  mansion  is  large  and  plain,  though  beautiful.  It  is 
built  of  brick  and  is  more  extensive  than  most  of  the  noted 


182 


OUR  PRESIDENTS. 


Virginia  residences.  It  is  well  preserved,  and  everything  in 
and  about  it  is  cared  for  with  excellent  taste  and  conscientious 
regard  for  its  history.  Around  it  is  a  beautiful  lawn  of  some 
sixty  acres,  surrounded  by  a  variety  of  large  trees,  many  of 
them  planted,  it  is  said,  by  the  hand  of  Mrs.  Madison.  Some- 
where near  the  center  of  this  open  field  or  lawn,  in  an  enclosure 
of  about  a  hundred  feet  square,  surrounded  by  a  brick  wall 
about  five  feet  high,  is  the  grave  of  Madison.  All  about  it  is 
peaceful  and  harmonious  like  Madison  himself.  Four  graves 
occupy  this  quiet  enclosure.  Over  the  grave  of  Madison,  is  a 
mound  of  earth,  from  the  top  of  which  rises  a  granite  obelisk 
some  twenty  feet  high.  Near  the  base  is  the  inscription; 


t  1 1  n  i  linn  n  ii  i  ii  1 1  •  in  1 1  in  linn  1 1  ii  1 


^JjUVCUM,  V£>V"  »*> 

Born  March  16,  1751. 
§  | 

HII  ij  iniijil  I  riiijiiiiiiniMiM  M  1 1:1 1 1  iiri  in  in  1 1 1  M  1 1 1  lii 

By  its  side  rises  a  smaller  marble  shaft  with  this  inscription: 


IN  MEMORY  OF 


WIFE  OP  JAMES  MADISON. 

Born  May  20,  1768; 
Died  July  8,  1849,  O.  S. 


*G)  s???  («* 

G}(S> 


CHAPTER   VL 


JAMES     MONROE. 

FZFTH   PRESIDENT   OF   TIIE   UNITED   STATES. 
ANCESTEY  AND   YOUTH. 

-AMES  MONEOE  was  f  Scotch  descent,  having  come 
j£.  from  a  family  of  Scotch  cavaliers,  who  were  descend- 
ants from  Hector  Monroe,  an  officer  of  Charles  I. 
He  was  born  April  28,  1758.  Coming  .from  such  a 
stock,  he  started  life  with  an  amount  of  brain  and  blood 
force  that  was  quite  likely  to  make  itself  felt  in  the  new 
country  in  which  it  had  taken  form.  Spence  Monroe, 
of  Westmoreland  county,  Virginia,  was  his  father,  and  Eliza 
Jones,  of  King  George  county,  was  his  mother.  She  was  sister 
of  Joseph  Jones,  who  served  Virginia  twice  in  the  Continental 
Congress,  and  as  district  judge  in  his  own  county.  The 
measure  of  her  force  may  be  known  somewhat  by  her  brother 
and  her  son.  It  has  passed  into  a  common  remark  that  great 
men  are  the  sons  of  strong  mothers.  His  father  and  mother 
were  both  Virginia  born.  So  he  was  well  born  as  to  parentage, 
the  best  fortune  that  'can  befall  one  at  the  beginning  of  life. 

The  locality  where  he  was  born  and  reared  was  Westmorland 
county,  between  the  Potomac  and  Rappahannock  rivers,  a  region 
of  great  fertility,  finely  watered,  of  varied  and  beautiful  scenery, 
which  had  attracted  the  attention  of  the  most  intelligent  settlers 
from  England,  on  account  of  its  many  advantages.  It  was 
between  two  grand  rivers;  but  little  above  tide- water;  originally 

183 


184  OUK  VRjiSIDENTS. 

heavy-timbered;  bearing  a  great  variety  of  natural  products;  in 
a  mild  climate;  with  rock  and  mineral  in  abundance.  So  he 
was  well  born  as  to  place. 

This  county  and  vicinity  was  settled  by  some  of  the  best 
comers  from  England.  Lord  Fairfax  and  his  brother  and  fine 
family  made  their  wilderness  home  here.  Lawrence  and  George 
Washington  and  the  other  Washingtons  grew  up  here.  Thomas 
Jefferson,  James  Madison,  Patrick  Henry,  Peyton  and  John 
Randolph,  Richard  Henry  Lee  and  Henry  Lee  (Light  Horse 
Harry,  as  he  was  called),  John  Marshall,  Pendleton,  Wythe, 
Nicolas,  Dabney  jCarr,  and  many  more  worthy  to  be  their  asso- 
ciates, were  the  products  of  this  vicinity.  So  numerous  were 
its  great  and  patriotic  men,  that  some  of  their  biographers  have 
called  it  "  The  Athens  of  America."  It  is  not  without  reason 
that  Virginians  of  this  region,  so  fruitful  of  historic  men,  have 
had  a  pride  in  Virginia  society.  In  this  society,  in  its  best  days, 
James  Monroe  was  born  and  reared.  So,  as  to  society,  he  was 
well  born. 

At  Williamsburg,  in  this  vicinity,  the  seat  of  the  colonial 
government,  was  founded  and  flourished  William  and  Mary 
college,  which  at  this  time  had  an  annual  income  of  some 
twenty  thousand  dollars,  and  had  been  in  operation  over  a  hun- 
dred years ;  next  in  age  to  Harvard  college.  It  had  had  a  good 
history  as  to  professors,  classes  and  work,  and  had  done  much 
to  fill  that  community  with  a  class  of  educated  men.  Albe- 
marle  academy  was  located  at  Charlotteville,  a  village  in  this 
vicinity,  which  was  converted  into  Central,  college  and  then 
into  the  University  of  Virginia,  of  famous  history.  Other 
academies  and  private  schools  did  good  work  for  education  in 
all  this  region. 

The  Plii-Beta-Kappa  society,  so  noted  among  college  men, 
the  chapters  of  which  are  connected  with  so  many  modern  col- 
leges, was  formed  at  William  and  Mary  college,  December  5, 
1776.  Its  first  meeting  is  said  to  have  been  held  in  Apollo  hall 
of  the  old  Raleigh  tavern,  which  was  a  kind  of  Virginia  "cradle 
of  liberty,"  like  Faneuil  Hall  of  Boston.  The  names  of  John 
Marshall  and  Bushrod  Washington  appear  in  the  list  of  the  first 


JAMES   MONEOE.  185 

members.  Many  excellent  libraries  were  founded  here  ;  books 
abounded  ;  classical  literature  was  common.  So  James  Monroe 
was  well  born  as  to  education  and  its  influence  in  the  community. 

Nearly  this  entire  vicinity  was  occupied  by  families  who  held 
large  estates,  and  who  came  here  with  means  to  establish  them- 
selves in  good  old  English  fashion.  They  were  large  agricult- 
urists who  made  their  calling  independent  and  honorable.  It 
was  a  community  of  few  dangers  to  young  men.  The  church 
of  England  held  its  strong  influence  over  all.  So  as  to  the 
moral  tone  of  the  community,  James  Monroe  was  well  born. 

Little  has  come  down  to  us  of  the  boyhood  of  James  Monroe. 
No  early  biography  was  written  of  him.  He  has  gone  into  his- 
tory as  lacking  brilliancy  of  character  action,  and  so  has  had  no 
biographical  limner  to  draw  carefully  the  outlines  of  his  early  life. 
Fifty  years  efficient  public  service;  fifty  years  intimate  association 
with  and  confidence  of  many  of  the  greatest  men  of  his  time; 
eight  years  of  the  conduct  of  the  chief  magistracy  of  the  nation 
in  such  a  way  as  to  destroy  all  enemies,  all  opposing  parties,  and 
bring  in  "the  era  of  good  feeling,"  as  his  administration  was 
called ;  it  would  seem  ought  to  bring  for  a  man  some  apprecia- 
tive biographers,  but  in  his  case  it  did  not;  so  the  details  of  his 
early  life  are  left  in  that  obscurity  which  shrouds  "the  simple 
annals  of  the  poor." 

A  SOLDIER. 

The  third  Virginia  regiment,  under  Colonel  Hugh  Mercer, 
appeared  at  Washington's  headquarters  at  Harlem,  New  York, 
in  1776.  James  Monroe,  eighteen  years  of  age,  was  a  lieutenant 
in  that  regiment.  He  was  a  student  in  William  and  Mary  col- 
lege when  the  war  broke  out.  As  a  youth  he  had  heard  all 
about  the  British  oppressions  of  the  colonists;  the  taxation 
Avithout  representation;  the  "Stamp  act;"  the  Bostonians pitch- 
ing the  tea  into  the  sea;  the  British  possession  of  Boston;  the 
Lexington,  Concord  and  Bunker  Hill  fights;  the  calling  of  a 
Continental  Congress;  the  appointment  of  Washington  com- 
mander-in-chief;  the  declaration  of  independence;  the  pushing 
forward  the  war,  and  now,  as  the  call  for  soldiers  came,  he  shut 


186  OTJK    PKESIDENTS. 

up  his  books,  and,  with  othe*r  students,  joined  the  third  Vir- 
ginia regiment;  was  elected  to  a  lieutenancy  and  marched  off  to 
headquarters,  two  or  three  hundred  miles  away.  His  election 
to  the  important  office  of  lieutenant  of  the  regiment  indicates 
the  estimate  his  associates  put  upon  him. 

After  reaching  the  army  he  soon  found  himself  in  active  ser- 
vice. He  was  in  the  skirmish  at  Harlem,  which  followed  right 
on  September  16;  the  battle  at  White  Plains,  October  28,  and 
then  the  long  retreat  through  New  Jersey,  fighting  all  the  way, 
ending  with  the  battle  of  Trenton,  in  which  he  received  a 
severe  wound  in  the  shoulder.  Captain  William  Washington 
and  Lieutenant  Monroe  led  the  left  wing  of  the  American  forces 
in  that  battle,  and  did  good  service  in  making  complete  the 
British  rout,  and  reviving  the  American  cause. 

After  recovering  from  his  wound,  he  served  as  a  volunteer 
aide,  with  the  rank  of  Major,  on  the  staff  of  the  Earl  of  Stir- 
ling, and  took  part  in  the  battles  of  Brandy  wine,  September  11; 
of  Germantown,  October  4,  and  of  Monmouth,  June  28,  1778. 
This  temporary  promotion  lost  him  his  regular  place  in  the  con- 
tinental army,  so  he  was  detailed  to  return  to  Virginia  and  raise 
a  new  regiment,  with  letters  from  Stirling  and  General  Wash- 
ington. But  the  exhausted  state  of  the  country  prevented  this, 
and  the  effect  of  his  failure  to  raise  a  new  regiment,  and  his  loss 
of  place  in  the  line,  for  a  time  almost  completely  disheartened 
him.  He  was  modest  and  self-deprecating,  and  the  closing  up 
of  the  military  way  before  him,  threw  him  into  such  a  state  of 
self-distrust  that  he  thought  to  hide  from  society  and  become  a 
recluse. 

But  Jefferson,  then  governor  of  Virginia,  was  his  friend, 
and  invited  him  into  his  office  to  study  law  and  assist  him  in 
such  ways  as  he  could.  His  uncle,  Judge  Jones,  favored  his 
acceptance  of  the  invitation,  and  so  he  joined  his  fortune  with 
Jefferson's  thus  early,  and  the  two  became  life-long  friends. 
This  decision  was  perhaps  the  key  that  unlocked  to  him  the  gate  to 
that  fortunate  way  that  he  pursued  through  the  whole  of  his  life. 
The  closing  of  the  military  way  before  him  he  thought  had 
ruined  his  prospects,  and  defeated  his  young  life,  and  yet,  more 


JAMES  MONROE.  187 

than  likely  it  was  the  "blessing  in  disguise"  which  turned  his 
feet  into  the  way  of  greater  usefulness  and  honor. 

A  LEGISLATOR. 

In  1782,  when  twenty-three  years  of  age,  Mr.  Monroe  was 
elected  to  the  Assembly  of  Virginia.  The  next  year,  when 
twenty-four,  he  was  elected  to  Congress  and  served  three  years. 
During  this  time  Washington  resigned  his  commission  and  Mr. 
Monroe  was  present.  In  Congress  he  was  an  active  and  working 
member,  young  as  he  was.  He  was  in  Congress  three  years. 
The  next  year  he  was  elected  to  the  Virginia  Legislature.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  Virginia  Convention  which  accepted  the 
United  States  Constitution.  He  was  opposed  to  it.  He  was 
afraid  it  was  too  monarchical;  that  it  conferred  too  much  power 
on  the  executive;  that  he  might  make  himself  a  king;  that  the 
friends  of  the  constitution  secretly  cherished  purposes  of  making 
it  still  more  monarchical.  He  made  speeches  against  it,  and  it 
was  adopted  against  his  influence.  The  strong  democrats  of  the 
time  found  great  fault  with  the  constitution.  It  was  really  a 
federal  document;  it  embodied  federal  doctrines;  was  an  epitome 
of  modern  federalism.  Twenty-eight  years  afterward,  in  a  letter 
to  Andrew  Jackson,  he  explained  some  of  his  reasons  for  oppos- 
ing it.  They  grew  chiefly  out  of  his  distrust  of  some  of  the 
federal  leaders.  Like  Jefferson,  who  at  first  opposed  it,  he 
became  a  strong  friend  of  it. 

December  6,  1790,  he  took  his  seat  in  the  United  States 
Senate,  under  the  constitution  which  he  opposed,  and  took  his 
oath  to  sustain  it. 

He  was  not  conspicuous  as  a  debater;  nor  noted  as  a  great 
constitutional  statesman;  nor  as  a  leader  in  the  philosophy  and 
principles  of  government;  but  as  a  practical,  considerate,  busi- 
ness legislator,  faithful,  hard-working,  pains-taking.  His  dis- 
trust of  the  federal  leaders,  and  especially  of  Hamilton,  made 
him  generally  unfriendly  to  Washington's  administration, 
though  he  was  always  on  terms  of  personal  friendship  with 
Washington.  The  political  feud  of  the  times  was  a  strong 
one,  and  he  shared  much  of  its  one-sidedness  and  bitterness. 


188  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

Virginia,  an  aristocratic,  _lave-holding  state,  produced  many 
radical  democrats,  Avho  sympathized  intensely  with  the  French 
cry  of  "Liberty  and  equality/'  Mr.  Monroe  was  among  them. 

ADMINISTER  ABROAD. 

May  28,  1794,  when  thirty-six  of  age,  Mr.  Monroe  was  com- 
missioned minister  to  France.  His  opposition  to  Washington's 
administration  and  to  the  federalists  who  had  a  strong  influence 
with  Washington,  would  have  unfitted  him  for  such  an  appoint- 
ment, according  to  modern  party  politics.  But  Washington 
had  confidence  in  Monroe,  and  his  strong  interest  in  the  French 
cause  of  liberty  would  make  him  acceptable  to  the  party  in 
power  in  France.  Mr.  Monroe  reached  Paris  just  as  Robes- 
pierre's career  had  closed.  He  was  introduced  into  the  French 
convention  of  citizens,  as  it  was  called,  as  "Citizen  James  Mon- 
roe, minister  plenipotentiary  from  the  United  States  near  the 
French  republic/'  August  15,  1794,  and  made  a  written  address 
which  was  read  in  French  by  the  secretary.  It  abounded  in 
expressions  of  sympathy  for  the  cause  of  liberty  in  France.  This 
gave  offense  to  many  of  the  administration  officials  at  home,  and 
he  was  lectured  for  his  over-warm  sympathy  with  the  popular 
party  in  the  French  republic.  He  went  to  France  to  prevent  a 
war  with  France.  Mr.  Jay  had  been  sent  to  England  to  prevent 
an  embroilment  with  England.  Monroe  found  it  difficult  to  get 
a  hearing  in  France.  The  new  government  was  not  receiving 
ambassadors,  and  had  only  coldness  for  him.  He  went  outside 
of  all  routine  and  got  a  hearing  in  the  popular  convention.  It 
seemed  to  those  who  had  sent  him,  a  partisan,  over-hasty  and 
ill-advised  movement,  liable  to  make  trouble  in  England.  His 
warmth  for  France  made  enemies  at  home  who  were  very  severe 
on  his  course.  Mr.  Jay  made  a  treaty  with  England  which  dis- 
pleased Monroe  and  the  French.  He  called  it  hard  names,  and 
was  called  hard  names  in  return  for  doing  so.  The  French 
became  warlike  again.  Mr.  Monroe  quieted  them  by  sympathy 
with  them  and  urging  them  t^  moderation,  and  to  wait  the  end 
of  Washington's  administration.  Just  at  this  time  he  was 
recalled;  he  came  home  cut  to  the  quick,  and  passed  by  Wash- 


JAMES  MONROE.  189 

ington  without  giving  him  a  call.  He  published  a  volume  of 
five  hundred  pages  in  self-defense.  The  party  critics  against 
him,  devoured  it  in  piecemeal.  His  party  friends  defended  him. 
A  great  newspaper  war  raged  for  a  time.  About  as  much  fault 
was  found  with  Jay  and  his  treaty  with  England  and  with  Wash- 
ington for  recommending  its  acceptance.  But  it  turned  out 
that  there  was  no  war  with  France  or  England  and  good  treaties 
of  amity  and  commerce  were  made  with  both  nations,  indicating 
that  both  men  understood  the  situation  in  hand  better  than 
their  critics  at  home.  The  war  of  words  against  them  was 
carried  on  more  with  party  gall  than  with  common  sense  or 
patriotism.  This  country  was  a  caldron  of  hot  misunderstand- 
ings at.  this  time. 

In  1801,  Spain  ceded  Louisiana  to  France.  At  once  there 
sprang  up  a  fever  of  anxiety  in  the  United  States  as  to  what 
France  was  proposing  to  do  with  it.  "  We  must  have  it,"  was 
the  common  saying  among  the  people.  Some  one  in  Congress 
proposed  to  purchase  it  ?  Congress  appropriated  two  millions 
of  dollars  for  that  purpose ;  and  Mr.  Jefferson,  then  president, 
appointed  Mr.  Monroe  a  special  minister  to  France  on  this  mis- 
sion. Mr.  Eobert  R.  Livingston  was  already  our  minister  in 
France,  and  was  moving  as  he  could  in  the  same  matter.  In  a 
few  weeks  after  Mr.  Monroe's  arrival  in  France,  they  succeeded 
in  making  the  purchase,  which  was  ratified  by  Napoleon 
Bonaparte  in  May,  1803.  The  price  paid  was  fifteen  million 
dollars, — the  grandest  bargain  ever  made  by  any  nation.  It 
was  a  peaceful  purchase  of  an  empire,  as  one  farmer  would 
buy  a  farm  of  another. 

Four  nations  were  interested  in  this  transaction — Spain 
England,  France  and  the  United  States.  Six  individuals  were 
chiefly  instrumental  in  it  —  Jefferson,  Livingston  and  Monroe 
for  the  United  States,  and  Bonaparte,  Talleyrand  and  Marbois, 
for  France.  When  it  was  accomplished,  the  plenipotentiaries 
rose  and  shook  hands;  and  Livingston  said:  "We  have  lived 
long,  but  this  is  the  noblest  work  of  our  whole  lives." 

Mr.  Monroe  proceeded  at  once  to  England  as  minister  to  St. 
James,  leaving  France  this  time  in  a  more  satisfactory  frame  of 


190  OTJK   PRESIDENTS. 

mind  than  lie  left  it  before.  He  soon  returned  to  France  as 
envoy  to  Spain,  and  in  this  mission  he  was  to  treat  with  the 
Spanish  minister  in  Paris,  concerning  the  purchase  of  Florida. 
But  after  several  months'  effort  he  returned  to  England,  without 
accomplishing  his  object. 

While  in  England,  Mr.  Monroe,  in  connection  with  Mr. 
Pinkney,  conducted  a  long  series  of  interviews  with  special 
English  ministers,  Lords  Auckland  and  Holland,  concerning 
English  impressment  of  seamen,  and  other  unwarrantable  trans- 
actions on  the  high  seas.  They  succeeded  at  last  in  forming  a 
treaty,  but  it  was  so  unsatisfactory  to  President  Jefferson  that 
he  refused  to  offer  it  to  the  Senate  for  consideration,  and  so  the 
long  efforts  at  diplomacy  failed,  and  things  went  on  from  bad  to 
worse  between  the  two  nations,  till  the  war  of  1812  brought  its 
bloody  arbitrament. 

Lord  Holland,  in  his  history  of  the  whig  party,  speaking  of 
this  treaty,  which  he  helped  to  form,  says:  "Mr.  Jefferson 
refused  to  ratify  a  treaty  which  would  have  secured  his  country- 
men from  all  further  vexations,  and  prevented  a  war  between 
two  nations  whose  habits,  language  and  interests  should  unite 
them  in  perpetual  alliance  and  good  fellowship. " 

President  Jefferson  did  in  haste,  and  doubtless  in  no  good 
temper,  take  upon  himself  to  decide  what  belonged  to  the  Senate 
to  decide,  and  the  failure  to  ratify  the  treaty,  left  the  ill  temper 
between  the  two  nations  to  rise  to  war  heat,  and  the  second  war 
with  England  was  the  result.  It  looks  now  as  though  Mr. 
Jefferson's  responsibility  in  that  war  was  great,  if  his  act  was 
not  the  fatal  failure  to  avert  it. 

Late  in  1807,  Mr.  Monroe  returned  to  America,  having 
accomplished  but  little  with  Spain  and  England ;  and  at  once 
published  an  elaborate  defense  of  his  well-meant  endeavors. 

GOVERNOR  OF  VIRGINIA. 

The  Virginia  of  the  olden  time  was  usually  prompt  to  recog 
nize  the  talent  and  worth  of  her  sons. 

When  Mr.  Monroe  returned  from  France  the  first  time  undei 
the  cloud  of  a  peremptory  recall  from  the  secretary  of  state,  and 


JAMES   MONROE.  191 

felt  himself  obliged  to  defend  himself  in  a  published  volume,  his 
native  state  promptly  elected  him  her  governor,  which  position 
he  held  for  three  years. 

Again,  when  he  returned  from  England,  at  the  next  guber- 
natorial election,  she  honored  him  in  the  same  way,  believing  he 
had  been  faithful  in  his  foreign  trust.  But  he  soon  resigned  the 
place,  being  called  by  President  Madison,  in  1811,  to  the  office  of 

SECRETARY    OF   STATE. 

He  had  been  much  talked  of  as  a  candidate  for  the  presidency, 
in  opposition  to  Mr.  Madison,  many  of  the  same  party  preferring 
him.  He  took  this  important  place  at  a  period  of  great  anxiety 
and  danger.  Our  minister  in  England,  Mr.  Eussell,  had  just 
written  to  our  government  that  the  insolence  of  England  in  rela- 
tion to  the  impressment  of  our  seamen,  the  search  of  our  vessels 
for  British  seamen,  and  all  the  differences  between  the  two  gov- 
ernments, was  so  offensive  and  dictatorial,  that  war  could  not  be 
honorably  avoided.  This  soon  became  the  conviction  of  Presi- 
dent Madison's  government ;  and  war  was  declared  June  18,  1812. 
The  declaration  of  war  was  drawn  by  William  Pinkney,  and 
communicated  to  England  by  James  Monroe;  the  two  men  who, 
a  few  years  before,  as  our  ministers  to  England,  had  labored  so 
hard  to  convince  England  of  her  bad  faith  and  her  unjust  treat- 
ment of  our  ships  and  seagoing  countrymen.  Then  came  right 
on  the  second  war  with  England.  It  opened  with  a  series  of 
disasters  to  our  arms.  War  is  a  trade  and  a  science  —  a  trade 
with  the  soldiers,  a  science  with  the  leaders.  We  had  neither 
trained  leaders  or  soldiers.  The  revolutionary  leaders  and  sol- 
diers were  too  old.  The  mantles  of  their  experience  had  not 
fallen  on  the  shoulders  of  their  sons.  The  new  generation  had 
to  learn  war  the  same  way  their  fathers  did — in  the  midst  of  its 
havoc  and  horror. 

England  sent  against  us  her  best  trained  officers  and  soldiers. 
She  remembered  the  revolution,  and  knew  she  had  a  foe  worthy 
of  her  best  forces.  They  had  their  own  way  for  awhile.  Our 
government  was  poorly  prepared  for  the  onslaught.  Our  navy 
was  almost  nothing;  our  army  was  a  shadow.  There  was  much 


192  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

opposition  to  the  war  among  our  people.  It  put  a  stop  to  much 
New  England  business,  and  jeopardized  much  property  and  life. 
The  old  federalists  aroused  themselves  and  called  it  a  democratic 
war,  a  party  war.  In  New  England  a  strong  body  of  the  wealthy, 
conservative,  influential  men,  opposed  it.  This  made  the  equip- 
ping of  an  army  all  the  more  difficult.  But  the  trailing  of  the 
stars  and  stripes  in  the  dust,  the  presence  of  British  red-coats 
on  our  soil,  as  enemies,  soon  stirred  patriotic  blood,  and  money, 
and  soldiers,  and  experience,  came  in  due  time ;  the  opposition 
subsided,  and  victory  came  in  the  end  ;  and  an  end  of  war  with 
our  mother  country,  it  is  hoped. 

As  secretary  of  state,  Mr.  Monroe  had  a  more  difficult  task, 
because  of  the  inefficiency  of  General  Armstrong,  who  was 
secretary  of  war.  After  many  failures,  Armstrong  was  removed, 
and  Mr.  Monroe  was  entrusted  with  the  double  duties  of  secre- 
tary of  war  and  secretary  of  state.  He  prosecuted  his  duties 
with  great  vigor,  and  in  due  time  brought  the  war  to  an  honor- 
able close. 

Toward  the  close  of  1814,  Mr.  Monroe  saw  the  exposure  of 
New  Orleans  and  its  vicinity,  and  resolved  to  defend  it.  The 
finances  of  the  country  Avere  at  a  low  ebb,  and  to  raise  the  neces- 
sary money  he  pledged  his  private  property  in  addition  to  the 
pledge  of  the  government,  and  so  obtained  the  money;  defended 
New  Orleans ;  conquered  the  enemy,  January  8,  1815,  under 
General  Jackson ;  and  closed  the  war. 

FIFTH   PRESIDENT. 

On  the  fourth  of  March,  1817,  Mr.  Monroe  was  inaugurated 
president  of  the  United  States,  with  Daniel  D.  Tompkins,  vice- 
president,  in  the  fifty-ninth  year  of  his  age.  Washington  was 
made  president  at  fifty-seven;  John  Adams  at  sixty-one;  Jeffer- 
son in  his  fifty-eighth  year,  and  Madison  in  his  fifty-eighth. 
Mr.  Monroe  received  one  hundred  and  eighty-three  electoral 
votes;  Rufus  King,  the  federalist  candidate,  received  thirty-four. 
His  vigorous  conduct  of  the  war  had  made  him  popular,  and 
nearly  destroyed  the  federal  party.  He  made  John  Quincy 


JAMES  MONROE.  193 

Adams,  his  secretary  of  state ;  John  0.  Calhoun,  secretary  of 
war;  W.  H.  Crawford,  secretary  of  treasury;  and  William  Wirt, 
attorney-general.  They  were  among  the  strongest  men  of  the 
time.  They  were  younger  than  Monroe;  Adams  being  fifty; 
Calhoun,  thirty-five;  Crawford,  forty-four,  and  Wirt,  forty-five. 
They  all  remained  in  their  places  during  the  eight  years  of  Mr. 
Monroe's  administration.  It  was  a  strong  and  harmonious 
administration,  and  especially  strong  in  its  cabinet. 

Mr.  Monroe  went  into  the  presidency  on  the  popular  tide 
given  him  by  his  successful  conclusion  of  the  war;  and  he 
sought  to  keep  the  good  favor  of  the  people  he  had  won,  by 
journeys  among  them.  Under  the  plea  of  looking  after  the 
fortifications  on  the  coast  and  frontier  which  Congress  had 
resolved  to  establish,  he  traveled  through  the  east,  north,  west 
and  south,  stopping  often  to  receive  the  salutations  of  the  people, 
to  make  and  hear  speeches,  sit  at  great  dinners,  and  partici- 
pate in  the  pageant  of  great  demonstrations.  The  war  was 
over;  the  old  enemy  conquered  a  second  time;  peace  was  in  all 
the  land,  and  the  president  who  had  done  so  much  to  bring 
about  these  happy  results,  was  out  shaking  hands  with  his 
rejoicing  people.  Well  might  his  administration  be  called  "the 
era  of  good  feeling."  There  were  important  things  to  be  done; 
but  it  was  easy  to  do  them  when  many  helped  and  few  hindered. 
The  divided,  bickering,  suspicious,  crotchety,  ungovernable 
people  of  John  Adams'  time,  had  now  become  a  happy  family, 
perfectly  assured  in  its  ability  to  govern  itself;  confident  that  it 
had  a  nearly  perfect  constitution,  and  the  best  government  and 
country  and  people  on  earth.  At  Mr.  Monroe's  second  election 
there  was  but  one  vote  cast  against  him;  the  federal  party  was 
dead;  the  political  millennium  had  come.  Happy  presidentl 
Happy  America! 

In  1818  a  war  broke  out  with  the  Semmole  Indians  in  the 
extreme  south.  General  Jackson  was  entrusted  with  its  con- 
duct. He  never  did  anything  by  halves.  The  Floridas  were 
then  territories  of  Spain.  He  followed  the  Indians  into  the 
Floridas ;  established  military  posts  there ;  approved  the  sum- 
mary execution  of  two  British  subjects  charged  with  inciting 
13 


194  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

the  Indians  against  the  Americans,  and  by  these  high  handed 
proceedings  came  near  involving  his  country  in  a  war  with  both 
Spain  and  England.  But  the  conciliatory  spirit  of  the  adminis- 
tration prevailed,  and  war  was  avoided. 

Perhaps  this  experience  incited  a  greater  desire  in  our 
country  to  possess  the  Floridas,  and  a  greater  willingness  in 
Spain  to  part  with  them ;  for  a  movement  was  soon  made  in 
which  Mr.  Adams,  the  secretary  of  state,  made  a  purchase  of 
Florida,  February  22, 1819,  thus  securing  the  last  of  the  Spanish 
territories  adjacent  to  our  settlements.  No  transactions  of  that 
generation  were  wiser  than  these  purchases  of  Louisiana  and 
Florida.  They  were  peaceful,  commercial,  satisfactory  and 
immensely  important  to  our  country  and  humanity.  Florida 
has  now  became  the  fruit  garden  of  the  country. 

Another  subject  of  great  interest  came  up  in  this  adminis- 
tration. It  was  the  admission  of  Missouri  into  the  Union. 
Missouri  was  a  slave  territory.  The  extension  of  slavery  had 
become  an  ambitious  scheme  of  southern  politicians.  The 
differences  between  the  South  and  North  had  not  grown  less 
under  the  constitution. 

Slavery,  which  at  first  extended  over  all  the  states,  had 
retired  from  all  the  northern  communities.  It  had  become  a 
southern  institution,  and  grown  up  a  state  of  society  peculiar 
to  itself,  in  which  aversion  to  labor,  class  distinction,  personal 
ease,  dislike  of  all  other  forms  of  society,  came  to  make  a  sort  of 
oligarchy,  distinct  from  the  society  the  constitution  was  expected 
to  foster. 

The  North  objected  to  receiving  Missouri  as  a  slave  state  ; 
the  South  insisted  upon  it.  A  great  discussion  arose,  the  begin- 
ning of  the  "  irrepressible  conflict  "  that  came  so  near  destroy- 
ing the  Union.  At  length  a  compromise  was  agreed  upon, 
which  was  called  "The  Missouri  Compromise,"  which  agreed 
that  Missouri  should  come  in  as  a  slave  state,  but  that  no  slave 
territory  should  extend  north  of  the  line  of  thirty-six  degrees 
thirty  minutes.  So  the  great  settlement  was  effected,  as  the 
most  of  the  people  believed  ;  and  there  was  much  rejoicing. 
But  there  were  those  who  thought  they  knew  it  was  only  post- 


JAMES  MONKOE.  195 

poned  to  some  future  day,  as  it  proved.  This  compromise  dates 
March  1,  1820. 

Still  another  great  question  came  to  the  front  in  Monroe's 
time  —  that  of  "Internal  Improvements."  It  came  upon  the 
proposition  to  establish  a  great  central  national  road  from  the 
east  westward,  to  be  extended  as  fast  as  settlements  were 
extended.  The  bill  brought  before  Congress  was  called  "  The 
Cumberland  Road  Bill."  The  friends  of  a  strong  government, 
preparing  for  war  in  times  of  peace,  cementing  its  bonds  by 
great  arteries  of  travel  and  trade,  assisting  the  people  in  affairs 
of  national  interest  too  great  for  individual  enterprise,  moved 
strongly  for  this  project.  It  was  a  Federalist  idea. 

The  opposers  of  a  strong  government,  who  believed  more  in 
state  governments,  who  feared  central  power  and  government 
monopolies,  and  were  of  the  Jefferson  school  of  thinking, 
opposed  it.  But  the  bill  passed  Congress,  notwithstanding  the 
federal  party  was  dead.  Its  spirit  still  lived. 

But  Monroe  had  been  trained  at  the  feet  of  Jefferson.  He 
scented  danger  in  such  a  great  road,  owned  and  controlled  and 
travel-taxed  by  the  general  government;  so  he  vetoed  it,  and  in 
a  long  message  gave  his  reasons;  but  his  veto  only  put  off  the 
measure.  This  veto  was  given  May  4,  1822. 

An  event  of  very  great  interest  to  the  whole  people  occurred 
in  Monroe's  administration.  Congress  invited  Lafayette  to 
revisit  America.  On  May  10,  1824,  he  accepted  the  invitation, 
and  came  early  in  the  fall.  His  journey  through  the  states  was 
an  extended  ovation.  He  and  Monroe  began  their  acquaintance 
and  friendship  in  the  revolutionary  army.  Now  it  was  a  joy  to 
both  to  meet  again  in  the  midst  of  the  grand  fruits  of  their 
early  labors  and  dangers.  The  people,  the  visitor,  and  the 
government  joined  to  make  the  occasion  one  for  cementing  good 
feeling  and  giving  strength  and  gladness  to  the  whole  country. 

That  which  marks  Mr.  Monroe  and  his  administration  more 
than  anything  else,  is  his  official  enunciation  of  what  may  prop- 
erlv  be  called  "The  American  Docrine,"  but  which,  on  account 
of  his  explicit  statement  of  it,  has  ever  since  been  called  "The 
Monroe  Doctrine."  In  his  message,  December  2,  1823,  in  con- 


196  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

sequence  of  Russian  and  other  European  overtures  to  our  gov- 
ernment touching  matters  in  different  parts  of  the  American 
continent,  he  spoke  at  length  of  our  isolation  from  Europe  and 
the  sentiment  that  had  grown  up  among  us,  that  we  must  not 
entangle  on  selves  with  foreign  alliances  nor  permit  European 
interference  in  American  affairs,  either  in  our  own  or  oilier 
American  republics.  The  enunciation  of  the  doctrine  is  inter- 
woven with  the  whole  message;  but  a  few  passages  pretty  slearly 
state  it :  "That  the  American  continent,  by  the  free  and  inde- 
pendent condition  which  it  has  assumed  and  maintains,  is 
henceforth  not  to  be  considered  as  a  place  for  future  colonization 
by  any  European  powers."  Again:  "We  owe  it,  therefore,  to 
candor  and  to  the  amicable  relations  existing  between  the  United 
States  and  those  powers,  to  declare  that  we  should  co?;sider  any 
attempt  on  their  part  to  extend  their  system  to  any  portion  of 
this  hemisphere  as  dangerous  to  our  peace  and  safety."  It  is 
further  elucidated  and  applied  in  the  message.  The  doctrine 
is,  European  hands  off  from  American  nationalities;  we  avoid 
foreign  entanglements ;  we  do  not  permit  foreign  meddling. 
It  does  not  seem  that  Mr.  Monroe  thought  he  was  saying  any- 
thing singular  or  of  marked  significance ;  but  because  thus 
authoritatively  said,  it  has  gone  into  history  as  the  Monroe 
doctrine.  It  was  the  common  sentiment  of  the  American  writers 
and  statesmen  put  forth  in  a  presidential  message. 

'  DOMESTIC    RELATIONS. 

When  Mr.  Monroe  was  a  member  of  Congress  in  New  York, 
and  about  twenty-eight  years  of  age,  he  married  Miss  Eliza 
Kortwright,  daughter  of  Lawrence  Kortwright,  a  respectable 
gentleman  of  that  city  who  had  lost  his  fortune  in  the  revolution. 
He  made  his  home  in  Fredericksburg,  Virginia,  with  a  vieAV  to 
go  into  the  practice  of  law;  we  have  seen  with  what  success. 

They  had  two  daughters,  Eliza,  who  married  Judge  George 
Hay,  of  Virginia,  and  Maria,  who  married  Samuel  L.  Governeur, 
of  New  York.  When  her  parents  were  in  Paris,  Eliza  was  a 
schoolmate  with  Hortense  Beauharnais,  daughter  of  Josephine, 


JAMES   MONROE.  197 

and  step-daughter  of  the  Emperor  Napoleon,  who  became  queen* 
of  Holland,  and  their  teacher  was  the  celebrated  Madam  Campan. 
The  acquaintance  of  these  school  girls  ripened  into  a  life-long 
friendship.  Eliza  named  a  daughter  Hortensia  for  Queen 
Hortense,  who  always  retained  a  strong  interest  in  her  American 
namesake,  and  sent  to  her  rich  portraits  of  herself  and  sister, 
and  Madam  Campan. 

Mr.  Monroe  had  a  tender  interest  in  his  family  and  his  rela- 
tives. He  was  a  modest,  kindly,  plain  man;  considerate  of  all; 
simple  and  polite;  a  little  awkward  in  manner;  in  stature  about 
six  feet ;  compact,  a  little  angular  and  bony  in  features  and 
build;  in  youth  and  middle  age  strong  and  enduring.  He  made 
many  friends  and  kept  them.  He  served  his  country  with  a 
single  purpose  through  more  than  five  decades.  He  was  often 
censured  and  sometimes  publicly  humiliated  by  his  superiors  in 
office,  yet  in  the  long  run  he  has  gained  the  approval  of  his 
countrymen.  He  is  a  standing  proof  that  plain  common  sense, 
with  good  purpose  and  hearty  industry,  may  serve  the  republic 
of  a  just  and  loyal  people  in  its  highest  offices. 

In  his  later  years  Mr.  Monroe  served  with  Mr.  Jefferson  and 
Mr.  Madison  as  regent  of  the  Virginia  university.  His  declin- 
ing years  were  harrassed  with  inadequate  income.  He  gave  his 
life  to  his  country  and  was  poorly  paid.  He  was  honored  most 
by  those  who  knew  him  best.  In  his  life-time,  his  lack  of  bril- 
liancy prevented  him  from  being  generally  estimated  at  his  real 
worth;  but  as  the  years  pass  away  his  record  brightens  and  his 
solid  merits  came  to  be  more  appreciated.  Mr.  Daniel  C. 
Oilman  gave  to  the  world,  only  last  year,  an  appreciative  sketch 
of  his  life,  and  predicted  that  some  future  biographer  would  do 
him  ample  justice. 

The  last  years  of  Mr.  Monroe's  life  were  spent  chiefly  with 
his  daughter,  Mrs.  Governeur,  in  New  York.  He  died  the 
fourth  day  of  July,  1831,  making  the  third  president  that  died 
on  that  memorable  day,  about  a  year  after  the  death  of  his  wife. 
He  was  buried  in  New  York.  But  the  state  of  Virginia,  on  the 
one  hundreth  anniversary  of  the  day  of  his  birth,  removed  his 
remains  to  Richmond,  that  they  might  rest  permanently  in  the 


198  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

«eoil  of  his  native  state  which  he  had  so  signally  honored   with  a 
patriotic  and  self-sacrificing  life. 


f  HE  flRAVE  OF  lAMES  J&ONROE. 

After  resting  in  its  grave  twenty-seven  years  in  New  York, 
where  Mr.  Monroe  died,  his  body  was  removed  to  Richmond, 
Virginia.  It  was  received  with  great  demonstrations  of  respect 
in  the  capital  of  his  native  state.  The  removal  was  made  July  4, 
1858,  and  the  re-interment  July  5.  Mottos  expressive  of  the 
most  loyal  patriotism  and  the  heartiest  devotion  to  the  union 
and  liberty  were  hoisted  over  the  streets.  A  vast  procession 
moved  slowly  out  to  Hollywood  cemetery  bearing  reverently  and 
tenderly  the  honored  dust  of  the  fifth  president  of  the  United 
States,  and  the  fourth  from  Virginia.  To  an  eminence  over- 
looking a  long  reach  of  the  James  river  and  its  beautiful  valley 
and  a  wide  circuit  of  delightful  country,  in  the  southwestern 
and  much-frequented  part  of  the  lovely  cemetery,  the  sacred 
relics  were  borne  and  buried  five  feet  under  ground  in  a  brick 
and  granite  vault.  The  vault  was  covered  with  a  large,  polished 
block  of  Virginia  marble,  eight  feet  long  and  four  feet  wide. 
On  this,  as  a  pedestal,  rests  a  large  granite  sarcophagus,  cut 
in  the  shape  of  a  coffin.  On  the  northern  side  of  the  sarcophagus 
is  a  brass  plate,  now  dark  with  age,  bearing  this  inscription : 

games    Hlotxme. 

BORN  IN  WESTMORELAND  COUNTY,  28TH  OF  APRIL,  1758. 
DIED  IN  THE  CITY  OP  NEW  YORK,  4Tii  OF  JULY,  1831. 

By  Order  of  the  General  Assembly, 
His  Remains  were  Removed  to  this  Cemetery  5th  of  July,  1858, 

As  an  evidence  of  the 
Affection  of  Virginia  for  her  Good  and  Honored  Son. 

The  ends  and  sides  are  filled  in  between  the  pillars  with  orna- 
mental cast-iron  grating,  made  so  compact  as  to  be  difficult  to 
look  through  the  interstices.  This  unique  monument  will 
always  mark,  to  every  visitor,  the  grave  of  President  Monrob 
from  every  other. 


•- 

• 


,       2  . 


CHAPITER  VII. 


JOHIST  QTJINOY  ADAMS. 

SIXTH  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

ANCESTRY. 

rIIE  name  of  John  Quincy  Adams  is  an  inspiration  to 
those  who  are  in  sympathy  with  the  great  men  and 
deeds  of  the  great  ages  of  mankind.  He  was  the 
product  of  an  ancestry  and  period,  both  of  which  put  their 
forces  into  him  in  strong  measure.  He  Avas  born  in 
stirring  times,  when  men  were  earnestly  considering  the 
rights  of  man  and  conscience,  and  were  profoundly  moved  by. 
the  questions  of  duty  and  life. 

John  Quincy  Adams  was  born  July  11,  1767,  in  Braintree, 
Massachusetts,  now  Quincy,  ten  miles  from  Boston,  when  his 
father  John  Adams,  second  president  of  the  United  States,  his 
neighbors,  and  the  thinking  men  of  the  American  colonies,  were 
agitating  the  question  of  British  oppressions  and  American 
rights.  The  Adamses  were  a  vigorous  race,  solid  and  hardy  in 
mind  and  body.  They  were  of  the  genuine  Puritan  stock, 
strong-thinking,  muscular,  resolute,  independent.  They  were 
descended  from  the  hardy  middle  class  of  English  society,  which 
in  those  times  craved  better  fortune  and  a  freer  life  than  were 
open  to  them  in  England.  In  this  new  country  they  rose  grad- 
ually to  better  and  better  conditions.  More  of  them  sought 
education,  and  were  sought  for  places  of  public  trust.  Henry 
Adams  was  the  first  of  the  family  in  this  country,  who  fled  from 
religious  persecution  in  Devonshire,  England,  soon  after  the 


200  CUE    PRESIDENTS. 

Mayflower  landed  her  freight  of  pilgrims.  Then  Joseph,  and 
Joseph  his  son,  and  deacon  John  Adams  and  his  son  John  and 
John  Quincy,  furnish  the  succession.  Through  the  whole  line 
they  were  noted  for  "piety,  humility,  simplicity,  prudence, 
patience,  temperance,  frugality,  industry  and  perseverance," — 
the  virtues  that  make  genuine  men. 

The  mother  of  John  Quincy  Adams  was  Abigail  Smith, 
daughter  of  Rev.  William  Smith,  who  had  descended  from  the 
Quincys.  He  received  his  name  Quincy  from  his  great-grand- 
father, on  his  mother's  side.  In  a  letter  he  once  wrote,  he  said: 
"  He  was  dying,  when  I  was  baptized ;  and  his  daughter,  my 
grandmother,  present  at  my  birth,  requested  that  I  might 
receive  his  name.  The  fact  recorded  by  my  father  at  the  time, 
has  connected  with  that  portion  of  my  name,  a  charm  of 
mingled  sensibility  and  devotion.  It  was  the  name  of  one  pass- 
ing from  earth  to  immortality.  These  have  been  among  the 
strongest  links  of  my  attachment  to  the  name  of  Quincy,  and 
'  have  been  to  me,  through  life,  a  perpetual  admonition  to  do 
nothing  unworthy  of  it." 

John  Quincy  was  a  gentleman  of  wealth,  education  and 
influence.  He  held  many  places  of  public  trust  and  honor. 
Exemplary  in  private  life,  and  earnest  in  piety,  he  enjoyed  the 
public  confidence  through  a  civil  career  of  forty  years  duration. 
Josiah  Quincy,  a  gentleman  of  great  attainments,  who  has  lately 
passed  away,  wrote  an  excellent  biography  of  John  Quincy 
Adams.  The  blood  and  the  name  of  the  Adamses  and  Quincys 
were  thus  mingled  in  him. 

Abigail  Adams,  his  mother,  was  a  woman  of  great  personal 
ability  and  worth.  Scarcely  a  woman  of  her  time  was  her 
superior.  Her  letters  constitute  an  interesting  feature  of  the 
literature  of  her  time,  and  show  how,  with  less  opportunity  than 
the  men  of  their  time,  the  women  nobly  did  their  part  in  laying 
the  foundations  of  American  society. 

THE   TIME. 

Times,  as  well  as  ancestors,  have  to  do  in  the  make-up  of 
men.  In  1781  there  arose,  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  Massa- 


JOHN   QUINCY   ADAMS.  201 

chusetts,  a  question  as  to  the  constitutionality  of  the  laws  by 
which  England  was  systematically  taxing  her  colonies.  The 
cause  was  argued  for  the  king  by  the  attorney-general,  and, 
against  the  laws,  by  James  Otis.  The  question  involved  was  the 
very  one  which  at  last  was  settled  by  an  appeal  to  arms.  John 
Adams,  then  a  young  lawyer,  was  present.  He  recorded  his 
opinion  of  Otis  and  the  question  at  issue  in  these  emphatic 
statements:  "Otis  was  a  flame  of  fire!  With  a  promptitude  of 
classical  allusion,  a  depth  of  research,  a  rapid  summary 
of  historical  events  and  dates,  a  profusion  of  legal  author- 
ities, a  prophetic  glance  of  his  eyes  into  futurity,  a  rapid 
torrent  of  impetuous  eloquence,  he  hurried  away  all  before  him. 
American  independence,  was  then  and  there  born.  Every  man 
of  an  unusually-crowded  audience,  appeared  to  me,  to  go  away 
ready  to  take  up  arms  against  writs  of  assistance."  On  another 
occasion  he  said:  "James  Otis  then  and  there  breathed  into 
this  nation  the  breath  of  life."  This  was  six  years  before  John 
Quincy  Adams  was  born. 

In  1765  the  British  Parliament  passed  the  Stamp  act,  which 
made  all  transactions  in  the  colonies  illegal  not  recorded  on 
stamped  paper,  which  stamps  must  be  bought  of  the  crown. 
James  Otis  and  John  Adams  argued  against  the  constitutionality 
of  the  law  before  the  governor  and  council  of  Massachusetts. 
This  was  two  years  before  the  birth  of  John  Quincy  Adams. 

John  Adams  was  so  wrought  upon  by  these  things  that  he 
wrote  a  dissertation  on  the  canon  and  feudal  laws,  which  showed 
the  democratic  spirit  then  active  in  him,  and  his  ideas  of  the 
rights  of  the  people. 

The  colonies  were  so  aroused  by  the  Stamp  act  that  it  was 
repealed  in  1766,  one  year  before  the  birth  of  the  younger 
Adams.  In  the  year  in  which  he  was  born,  1767,  a  law  was 
passed  taxing  glass,  paper,  paints  and  tea.  This  roused  the 
spirit  of  opposition  to  British  oppression  still  more.  John 
Adams  was  one  of  the  leaders  in  that  opposition  in  Boston,  aud 
his  wife  was  joined  with  him  in  his  stout  determination  to  stand 
for  the  rights  of  the  colonies.  Of  such  parents  and  in  such 
times  was  John  Quincy  Adams  born. 


202  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

The  next  year  Boston  held  a  meeting  to  instruct  the  Pro- 
vincial Legislature  to  oppose  the  British  usurpations,  and  John 
Adams  was  on  the  committee  to  prepare  the  instructions,  with 
Richard  Dana  and  Joseph  Warren — the  same  Warren  who  fell 
on  Bunker  Hill,  seven  years  later.  On  the  fifth  of  March,  1770, 
a  collision  occurred  between  British  soldiers  and  some  citizens 
of  Boston,  in  which  five  citizens  were  killed  and  many  wounded, 
which  was  called  ''Bloody  Massacre/'  The  excitement  grew 
more  and  more  intense  every  year,  and  the  Adams  family  was  in 
the  heat  of  it. 

In  December,  1773,  the  tea  was  destroyed  in  Boston  harbor, 
and  the  harbor  closed  soon  after.  On  September  5,  1774,  the 
first  American  Congress  met  in  Philadelphia,  Avith  John  Adams 
as  a  member.  In  1775,  at  his  suggestion,  George  Washington 
was  appointed  commander-in-chief  of  the  American  army,  and 
on  June  17  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill  was  fought,  with  Mrs. 
Adams  and  her  children  looking  from  the  summit  of  Penn's 
Hill,  not  far  from  their  home,  at  the  burning  of  Charlestown, 
and  hearing  the  distant  roar  of  battle.  The  mother  and  chil- 
dren entered  into  the  life  of  the  times  just  as  did  Mr.  Adams 
himself.  During  the  siege  of  Boston,  which  followed  right  on, 
Mrs.  Adams  kept  her  house  open  to  the  soldiers  in  their  needs, 
and  often  gave  them  food,  shelter  and  sympathy.  Her  letters  to 
him  abound  with  descriptions  of  the  fearful  times,  the  sleepless 
nights  and  anxious  days  they  were  passing  through,  and  the 
scenes  in  which  she  and  her  family  had  a  part.  The  life,  spirit 
and  grandeur  of  those  "times  which  tried  men's  souls"  were 
felt  by  the  Adamses  as  forcibly  as  by  any  who  then  lived.  And 
it  was  in  the  midst  of  those  times  that  John  Quincy  Adams 
came  into  being,  charged  with  the  life  of  the  mighty  period; 
and  its  scenes,  deeds  and  forces  were  among  his  first  teachers. 
It  can  not  be  otherwise  than  that  he  was  made  in  part  by  these 
things.  His  soul  was  of  his  times — a  product  of  the  American 
revolution. 

HIS   BOYHOOD. 

Usually  boys  are  boys  the  world  over;  but  John  Quincy 
Adams  was  an  exception.  Edward  Everett  Hale  said  of  him: 


JOHN   QUINCY   ADAMS.  203 

"There  seemed  to  be  in  his  life  no  such  stagw  as  boyhood." 
When  about  nine  years  old  he  wrote  to  his  father  in  Congress 
this  letter: 

BRAINTREE,  June  2,  1777. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  love  to  receive  letters  very  well,  much  better  than  I  love 
to  write  them.  I  make  a  poor  figure  at  composition.  My  head  is  much  too 
fickle.  My  thoughts  are  running  after  bird's  eggs,  play  and  trifles,  till  I  get 
vexed  with  myself.  Mamma  has  a  troublesome  task  to  keep  me  a  studying. 
I  own  I  am  ashamed  of  myself.  I  have  just  entered  the  third  volume  of 
Kolliu's  History,  but  designed  to  have  got  half  through  it  by  this  time. 
I  am  determined  to  be  more  diligent.  Mr.  Thaxter  is  absent  at  court.  I 
have  set  myself  a  stint  this  week,  to  read  the  third  volume  half  out.  If  I 
can  but  keep  my  resolution,  I  may  again,  at  the  end  of  the  week,  give  a 
better  account  of  myself.  I  wish,  sir,  you  would  give  me,  in  writing,  some 
instructions  with  regard  to  the  use  of  my  time,  and  advise  me  how  to  pro- 
portion my  studies  and  play,  and  I  will  keep  them  by  me  and  endeavor  to 
follow  them.  With  the  present  determination  of  growing  better,  I  am, 
dear  sir,  your  son,  JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS. 

P.  S. —  Sir,  if  you  will  please  be  so  good  as  to  favor  me  with  a  blank 
book,  I  will  transcribe  the  most  remarkable  passages  I  meet  with  in  my 
reading,  which  will  serve  to  fix  them  upon  my  mind. 

Very  little  of  the  boy  in  that.  The  first  sentence  or  two  is 
a  little  boy-like.  The  reference  to  the  bird's  eggs  and  play  indi- 
cate that  the  boy  was  in  him,  but  suppressed,  and  he  was  bound 
to  crush  him  «ut.  A  nine-year-old  reading  Kollin's  History  and 
transcribing  the  most  remarkable  passages  to  fix  them  in  his 
mind ! 

February  13,  1778,  John  Adams  started  on  a  mission  to 
France  to  which  he  had  been  appointed  by  Congress.  He  took 
his  son,  then  not  quite  eleven,  with  him.  In  a  note  he  sent  to 
his  wife  just  as  they  were  to  enter  the  frigate  to  depart,  he  said: 
"Johnny  sends  his  duty  to  his  mamma,  and  his  love  to  his 
sisters  and  brothers. .  He  behaves  like  a  man." 

"He  behaves  like  a  man!"  Glad  was  the  father  no  doubt 
to  write  that;  but  it  indicates  that  the  man  was  already  getting 
the  mastery  of  the  boy,  that  the  training  he  was  receiving  from 
his  parents  and  the  times  was  rapidly  developing  the  man. 

He  learned  the  rudiments  of  an  education  in  the  village 
school  of  Braintree.  In  after  life  he  often  playfully  boasted 


204  OUR    PRESIDENTS. 

that  the  dame  who  taught  him  to  spell  flattered  him  into  learn- 
ing his  letters  by  telling  him  he  would  prove  a  scholar.  A  stu- 
dent in  his  father's  office  instructed  him  in  the  elements  of 
Latin. 

Mr.  Adams  remained  in  Paris  till  June,  1779,  when  he  and 
his  son  returned.  In  November,  1770,  he  went  again  to  France 
to  meet  commissioners  from  England  to  negotiate  a  treaty  of 
peace.  Young  Adams  went  again  with  his  father. 

In  July,  1780,  Mr.  Adams  was  appointed  ambassador  to  the 
Netherlands,  and  his  son  was  removed  from  the  schools  of  Paris 
to  those  of  Amsterdam,  and  later  to  the  University  of  Leyden. 
There  he  studied  till  July  of  the  next  year,  when,  at  the  age  of 
fourteen,  he  was  invited  by  Francis  Dana,  minister  from  the 
United  States  to  the  Russian  court,  to  become  his  private  sec- 
retary, and  he  accompanied  him  through  Germany  to  St.  Peters- 
burg. Beyond  his  official  duties  he  found  time  to  continue  his 
Latin,  French  and  German  studies,  together  with  English  his- 
tory, until  September,  1782,  when  he  went  to  Stockholm  and 
passed  the  winter.  The  next  spring  he  went  through  Sweden 
to  the  Hague,  where  he  met  his  father  and  went  with  him  to 
Paris.  He  was  present  at  the  signing  of  the  treaty  of  peace  in 
1783.  He  went  with  his  father  to  England  visiting  eminent 
men  and  noted  places;  after  which  he  returned  to  Paris  and  his 
studies,  till  May,  1785,  when  both  father  and  son  returned  to 
the  United  States.  He  was  now  eighteen  years  old.  His  father 
had  just  been  appointed  minister  to  England.  Should  he  go 
with  his  father,  or  go  to  college?  Here  was  a  great  temptation. 
He  saw  the  glittering  prospects  of  a  life  at  the  court  of  St. 
James;  he  knew  he  needed  the  drill  and  discipline  of  a  college 
and  professional  course  of  study.  His  father's  finances  had  suf- 
fered by  his  public  service.  The  boy  chose  to  go  home  to 
study  and  become  an  independent  worker-out  of  his  own  for- 
tune. Wise  choice,  showing  that  the  man  and  not  the  boy  had 
control  of  him.  After  reviewing  his  studies  under  an  instructor, 
he  entered  the  junior  class  in  Harvard  college  in  March,  1786, 
a  little  before  he  was  nineteen  years  of  age.  He  graduated  in 
1787  with  the  second  honor  of  his  class,  and  gave  an  oration 


JOHN   QUINCY   ADAMS.  205 

on  "The  Importance  of  Public  Faith  to  the  Well-being  of  a 
Community,"  which  was  published  on  account  of  the  interest 
felt  in  it. 

THE   LAWYEE. 

Now,  at  twenty  years  of  age,  young  Adams  entered  upon  the 
study  of  law,  in  the  office  of  Theophilus  Parsons,  afterward 
chief  justice  of  Massachusetts,  at  Newburyport.  He  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  1790.  He  at  once  opened  an  office  in 
Boston.  He  was  a  stranger  there,  though  born  within  ten 
miles.  He  afterward  said  of  his  practice  .  "I  can  hardly  call 
it  practice,  because  for  the  space  of  one  year  it  would  be  difficult 
for  me  to  name  any  practice  which  I  had  to  do.  For  two  years, 
indeed,  I  can  recall  nothing  in  which  I  was  engaged  that  may 
be  termed  practice,  though  during  the  second  year,  there  were 
some  symptoms  that  by  persevering  patience,  practice  might 
come  in  time.  The  third  year,  I  continued  this  patience  and 
perseverance,  and  having  little  to  do,  occupied  my  time  as  well 
as  I  could  in  the  study  of  those  laws  and  institutions  which  I 
h.ive  since  been  called  to  administer.  At  the  end  of  the  third 
year  I  had  obtained  something  which  might  be  called  practice. 
The  fourth  year,  I  found  it  swelling  to  such  an  extent  that  I  felt 
no  longer  any  concern  as  to  my  future  destiny  as  a  member  of  that 
profession.  But  in  the  midst  of  the  fourth  year,  by  the  will  of 
the  first  president  of  the  United  States,  with  which  the  Senate 
was  pleased  to  concur,  I  was  selected  for  a  station,  not,  perhaps, 
of  more  usefulness,  but  of  greater  consequence  in  the  estimation 
of  mankind,  and  sent  from  home  on  a  mission  to  foreign  parts." 

THE    WRITER. 

While  waiting  for  clients  and  continuing  the  active  study 
of  his  profession,  Mr.  Adams  was  not  a  careless  spectator 
of  national  affairs.  He  was  an  intense  patriot.  His  travels 
abroad  had  made  his  patriotism  broader,  richer,  more  intelligent. 
He  had  been  so  thoroughly  trained  by  his  mother  and  the  com- 
munity in  which  he  was  born,  in  the  morals  of  life,  which  he 
liad  been  taught  to  apply  to  political  and  national  affairs,  that 


206  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

it  was  difficult  for  him  to  separate  his  personal  life  from  the  life 
of  the  nation.  About  this  time  Thomas  Paine's  "Eights  of 
Man"  was  published  in  this  country,  with  the  approval  of  Thomas 
Jefferson.  Both  Paine  and  Jefferson  had  been  much  in  France, 
•  and  much  influenced  by  the  radically  democratic,  or  as  we  would 
say  now,  communistic  views  of  the  French  leaders  in  their  revo- 
lution. Mr.  Adams  saw  clearly  the  "political  heresies"  of  Mr. 
Paine's  pamphlet,  and  the  mischief  it  was  likely  to  do  among 
the  American  people,  who  sympathized  intensely  with  the 
French  in  their  struggle  for  liberty,  and  exposed  those  heresies, 
and  explained  the  difference  between  the  French  struggle  and 
our  own,  in  'a  series  of  articles  which  he  published  in  the 
"Columbia  Centinel,"  over  the  signature  "Publicola." 

In  April,  1793,  Great  Britain  declared  war  against  France. 
Such  was  the  sympathy  for  France  in  this  country,  that  multi- 
tudes were  ready  to  make  our  republic  a  French  ally  against 
our  old  enemy. 

Mr.  Adams  published  another  series  of  letters,  over  the  sig- 
nature of  "Marcellus,"  in  which  he  advocated  with  great  ability 
the  neutrality  of  the  United  States.  He  enlarged  upon  the 
necessity  of  our  keeping  clear  of  all  foreign  entanglements. 

A  little  later  he  published  another  series,  over  the  signature 
of  ''Columbus,"  severely  criticising  citizen  Genet,  whom  France 
had  sent  here  to  arouse  America  in  her  behalf.  These  several 
articles  were  republished  in  pamphlets  and  other  papers  and 
widely  read.  They  were  published  also,  in  England  and  held 
as  among  the  ablest  political  writings  from  America.  Washing- 
ton and  his  cabinet  read  them  with  great  interest.  They  advo- 
cated in  the  main  the  doctrines  Washington  was  trying  to 
enforce  in  his  administration.  They  did  not  suit  either  party, 
but  were  broader  and  wiser  than  either.  They  tended  greatly 
to  establish  an  American  course  of  conduct,  and  fix  many  tilings 
on  solid  bases,  which  were  then  unsettled.  They  threw  light, 
and  much  of  it,  into  the  gloom  of  that  most  doubtful  period  of 
our  national  history. 

In  these  papers  there  was  not  only  shown  great  political  and 
literary  ability  and  moral  character  of  a  high  order,  but  a  clear 


JOHN   QUINCY   ADAMS.  207 

Knowledge  of  foreign  countries,  and  of  the  language  and 
etiquette  of  courts  and  diplomacy.  All  this  pointed  out  to 
Washington's  quick  and  most  accurate  judgment,  the  man  he 
wanted  for  a  foreign  minister;  and  when  he  found  it  was  his  vice- 
president's  son,  who  was  yet  but  a  young  man,  who  had  written 
so  wisely,  he  did  not  hesitate  on  accunt  of  his  few  years,  but 
appointed  him  minister  to  the  Netherlands.  His  commission 
was  given  him  July  11,  1794,  the  day  he  completed  his  twenty- 
seventh  year. 

FOREIGN   MINISTER. 

Mr.  Adams  left  Boston  in  September,  and  reached  London 
in  October,  where  Messrs.  Jay  and  Pinckney  were  negotiating  a 
treaty  between  England  and  the  United  States.  After  fifteen 
days  in  London  he  sailed,  October  30,  for  Holland.  Holland 
almost  at  once  fell  into  the  hands  of  France,  and  his  inter- 
course was  about  as  much  with  the  conquering  as  the  conquered 
country. 

In  October,  1795,  he  was  directed  by  the  secretary  of  state 
to  repair  to  England,  where  he  found  he  was  appointed  to  ratify 
Jay's  treaty  with  the  British  government.  After  fulfilling  this 
mission  he  returned  to  Holland. 

In  August,  1796,  he  received  the  appointment  of  minister  to 
Portugal,  but  his  credentials  did  not  reach  him  till  his  successor 
came,  the  next  July.  He  at  once  repaired  to  London,  to  find  that 
an  appointment  to  the  court  of  Berlin  had  superseded  the  other. 
While  waiting  for  instructions,  he  fulfilled  an  engagement  of 
marriage  with  Miss  Louisa  Catharine  Johnson,  daughter  of 
Joshua  Johnson,  American  consul  at  London.  The  marriage 
took  place  July  26,  1797.  They  proceeded  to  Berlin  where  Mr. 
Adams  faithfully  discharged  the  duties  of  his  high  office  till 
1801,  when  they  returned  to  the  United  States. 

BEGINS   ANEW. 

Mr.  Adams  returned  to  Boston  and  to  the  bar,  but  without 
practice.  When  he  left  the  bar,  seven  years  before,  his  practice 
had  just  become  assured.  But  now,  after  seven  years  abroad, 


208  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

he  must  begin  anew.  He  had  now  a  family  to  support ;  his 
finances  had  suffered  by  the  failure  of  foreign  bankers;  but, 
nothing  daunted,  he  again  sought  practice.  He  applied  him- 
self diligently  to  read  up  the  new  statutes  and  to  acquaint  him- 
"self  with  the  new  conditions  of  law  and  society  in  his  own 
country.  He  was  but  started  in  this  study  when  the  Boston 
district  elected  him  to  the  Senate  of  Massuchesetts. 

In  Massachusetts  the  federalists  were  in  the  majority. 
While  he  had  been  absent  his'  father  had  been  president,  and 
lost  his  re-election  by  the  division  of  his  party  and  the  rise  of 
the  democratic  party,  under  Mr.  Jefferson.  Mr.  Adams  was 
not  a  politician  by  nature,  and  had  had  no  part  in  the  party 
differences  of  the  time.  His  first  public  act  as  a  senator  was 
one  of  political  justice  and  conciliation.  He  was  elected  by 
.federalists,  but  when  the  governor's  council  was  appointed  he 
moved  that  a  portion  be  appointed  from  the  minority  party,  on 
the  ground  that  the  minority  had  rights  that  the  majority  were 
bound,  in  justice,  to  respect. 

In  1803  Mr.  Adams  was  elected  to  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States  by  the  Massachusetts  legislature.  He  was  now  thirty-six 
years  of  age.  The  country,  at  this  time,  was  fearfully  embar- 
rassed, both  by  home  distractions  and  foreign  complications. 
Party  spirit  was  almost  a  craze;  one  party  affiliated  with  France, 
the  other  with  England;  the  people  had  not  learned  to  be  stable 
citizens,  nor  what  belonged  to  good  citizenship;  many  of  their 
leaders  were  distracted  by  foreign  theories  and  Utopian  schemes; 
war  was  appealing  to  the  belligerent  spirit  of  the  young  nation. 
The  president,  Mr.  Jefferson,  was  dreaded  and  hated  by  many 
of  the  federalists  as  a  French  Jacobin. 

When  these  perils  and  embarrassments  were  thickening  in 
and  about  the  young  republic,  Mr.  Adams  took  his  seat  in  Con- 
gress, elected  by  federalists.  The  next  year,  1804,  Bonaparte 
became  emperor  of  France.  All  Europe  seemed  falling  under 
his  sway.  England  alone  withstood  him.  In  1807  England 
issued  the  "Orders  in  Council,"  which  forbade  all  trade  with 
France  and  her  allies.  Bonaparte  replied  with  the  "  Milan 
Decree,"  which  prohibited  all  trade  with  England  and  her 


JOHN  QUINCY   ADAMS.  209 

colonies.  American  commerce  became  a  prey  to  both  these 
belligerent  nations.  As  a  last  resort,  Mr.  Jefferson  determined 
on  an  embargo  to  save  the  remnant  of  American  commerce. 
Massachusetts  opposed  the  Embargo  act;  Mr.  Adams  supported 
Mr.  Jefferson,  for  which  he  was  roundly  abused  by  his  con- 
stituents. It  was  a  characteristic  of  his  whole  life  not  to  be  a 
partisan.  He  was  a  national  man  and  could  not  step  to  party 
orders.  As  a  result,  he  was  often  charged  with  corrupt  affilia- 
tion with  the  opposite  party.  He  was  ofton  the  best  abused 
man  in  the  whole  country.  For  the  several  things  which  he  did 
contrary  to  the  will  of  his  federalist  constituents,  a  small 
majority  elected  another  person  to  be  his  successor  at  the  close1 
of  his  term,  so  in  March,  1808,  he  resigned  his  seat  in  th'j 
Senate. 

In  1805  he  sought  to  have  Congress  levy  a  duty  on  the  impor- 
tation of  slaves,  and  thus  began  his  strong  public  opposition  to 
slavery,  which  ended  only  with  his  life. 

In  1804  he  was  urged  to  accept  the  presidency  of  Harvard 
university,  which  he  declined,  but,  instead,  accepted  the  chair 
of  rhetoric  and  belles-lettres,  which  he  filled  to  great  acceptance. 

His  lectures  were  very  popular  and  attended  by  large  crowds 
from  Boston.  They  were  afterward  published  in  two  volumes. 

MINISTER  TO   RUSSIA. 

In  March,  1809,  Mr.  Adams  was  appointed  minister  to  Rus- 
sia. It  was  a  critical  and  important  time.  The  republic  was 
drifting  toward  a  storm  with  England ;  and  the  president,  Mr. 
Madison,  was  preparing  for  the  worst.  It  had  demanded  the 
abrogation  of  the  "Orders  in  Council"  and  the  "Milan  Decree." 
France  complied ;  but  England  hesitated,  haggled,  put  off,  and 
although  she  finally  -complied,  she  did  not  do  it  till  the  embroil- 
ment was  on  the  verge  of  war,  which  Congress  had  declared 
before  the  news  of  England's  compliance  reached  this  country. 
It  was  important  that  a  strong  man  had  charge  of  our  affairs 
with  Russia.  Washington  had  predicted  that  the  younger  Adams 
would  in  due  time  be  at  the  head  of  our  foreign  ministry.  That 
time  was  now  approaching. 
14 


210  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

Mr.  Adams  was  received  with  marked  respect  at  the  court 
of  St.  Petersburg.  His  familiarity  with  the  French  and  German 
languages — the  former  the  diplomatic  language  of  Europe — his 
literary  acquirements;  his  perfect  knowledge  of  the  political 
relations  of  the  civilized  world;  his  plain  appearance  and  repub- 
lican simplicity  of  manners,  in  the  midst  of  the  gorgeous  embas- 
sies of  other  nations,  enabled  him  to  make  a  striking  and  favorable 
impression  on  the  Emperor  Alexander  and  his  court.  The 
emperor,  charmed  by  his  varied  qualities,  admitted  him  to  terms 
of  personal  intimacy,  seldom  granted  to  the  most  favored  indi- 
viduals. 

Twenty-eight  years  before,  when  a  boy  of  fourteen,  he  was 
there  as  Mr.  Dana's  private  secretary;  now  he  had  returned  in 
the  prime  of  manhood,  a  diplomat  of  his  nation. 

While  there,  the  aged  Eussian  minister  of  the  interior  esti- 
mated the  value  of  all  the  gifts  he  had  received  while  in  office ; 
and  paid  the  sum  into  the  national  treasury.  It  was  an  act 
which  Mr.  Adams  greatly  honored.  About  this  time,  a  Eussian 
bookseller  sent  him  an  elegant  copy  of  the  scriptures.  He  kept 
the  copy,  but  returned  the  full  price  of  it  in  money.  He  believed 
that  public  officials  should  be  free  from  bias,  and  so  should  refuse 
all  presents. 

While  at  St.  Petersburg,  Mr.  Adams  wrote  a  series  of  letters 
to  a  son  at  school  in  Massachussetts,  on  the  bible  and  its  teach- 
ings, which  after  his  death  were  published  in  a  volume.  Through 
his  life,  he  was  a  careful  and  devout  student  of  the  bible.  Its 
precepts  of  wisdom  and  morality  were  always  the  guide  of  his 
life.  He  took  great  pleasure  in  studying  the  scriptures  in  the 
different  languages  he  had  learned  ;  and  held  them  in  profound 
respect. 

While  Mr.  Adams  was  at  his  court,  the  emperor  proposed  to 
mediate  between  England  and  the  United  States,  to  secure  a 
cessation  of  hostilities.  England  refused  the  emperor's  offer, 
but  proposed  to  meet  American  commissioners  at  London  or 
Gottenburg.  Mr.  Adams,  and  Messrs.  Bayard,  Clay,  Eussell  and 
Gallatin  were  appointed.  In  conducting  the  negotiations  which 
followed,  the  American  commissioners,  with  Mr.  Adams  at  their 


JOHN  QULNCY  ADAMS. 

head,  displayed  a  knowledge  of  national  rights  and  laws,  a  justice, 
firmness  and  magnanimity,  which  was  profoundly  respected  by 
the  nations  of  Europe ;  and  which  led  the  Marquis  of  Wellesley 
to  say  in  the  House  of  Lords  that,  ' '  in  his  opinion,  the  American 
commissioners  had  shown  the  most  astonishing  superiority  over 
the  British,  during  the  whole  of  the  correspondence/* 

After  six  months  of  negotiations,  the  treaty  of  peace,  was 
signed  at  Ghent  on  the  twenty-fourth  of  December,  1814. 

The  commissioners  proceeded  to  London,  where  on  the  third 
of  July,  1815,  they  signed  a  treaty  of  commerce  with  England. 
Thus  was  effected  permanent  relations  of  good  will  between 
these  two  great  nations. 

MINISTER  AT  THE   COURT  OF  ST.    JAMES. 

Before  going  to  London  as  a  commissioner,  Mr.  Adams  had 
been  appointed  resident  minister  at  the  court  of  St.  James.  He 
remained  here  till  1817,  attending  faithfully  to  the  duties  of  his 
high  position  ;  and  reflecting  great  honor  to  his  country,  by  his 
learning,  wisdom  and  exalted  character. 

SECEETARY   OF   STATE. 

On  the  fourth  of  March,  1817,  James  Monroe  was  inaugu- 
rated president  of  the  United  States.  He  came  into  office  when 
party  spirit  had  for  a  long  time  run  high.  It  was  somewhat 
abated  by  the  war,  but  was  still  in  the  way  of  a  proper  demon- 
stration of  the  principles  on  which  the  republic  was  founded. 
It  was  his  great  purpose  to  conciliate  the  parties  and  bring 
domestic  peace  to  his  country.  He  looked  about  for  the  most 
able  and  acceptable  men  for  his  cabinet  officers,  who  were  most 
pronounced  for  their  non-partisan  patriotism  and  their  broad 
wisdom.  He  fixed  on  John  Quincy  Adams  for  his  secretary  of 
state — the  man  of  all  others  who  could  give  the  most  command- 
ing dignity  to  his  administration,  in  the  foreign  world's  estima- 
tion. 

As  soon  as  Mr.  Adams  received  his  appointment,  he  closed 
his  affairs  in  England  and  took  passage  for  New  York,  where  he 
landed  August,  1817.  A  great  public  dinner  was  given  him  in 


212  OUR    PRESIDENTS. 

Tammany  hall,  at  which  Governor  Clinton,  the  mayor  of  the 
city,  and  some  two  hundred  of  the  best-distinguished  citizens 
gave  expression  to  their  profound  regard  for  the  great  diplomat. 
He  went  immediately  to  Boston  where  a  like  reception  awaited 
him,  at  which  his  aged  father  was  a  guest. 

The  next  month  Mr.  Adams  removed  to  Washington  and 
entered  upon  the  duties  of  his  office. 

During  the  eight  years  of  Monroe's  administration,  Mr. 
Adams  remained  faithful  to  the  duties  of  the  secretary  of  state. 
He  had  entire  charge  of  the  foreign  department  of  the  govern- 
ment, and  did  much  to  establish,  on  just  principles,  the  good 
relations  our  government  has  since  maintained  with  countries 
abroad.  He  carried  out  the  principles  he  had,  in  his  early  man- 
hood, formulated  in  his  papers  in  the  "Columbian  Centinel," 
and  which  so  pleased  Washington  that  he  adopted  them  in  his 
farewell  address  to  the  people  of  the  United  States. 

It  was  during  Mr.  Adams'  term  of  office  as  secretary  of  state, 
that  the  Greek  revolution  broke  out,  in  1821.  Greece  had  for  a 
long  time  been  subject  to  the  Ottoman  power,  which  was  a  cruel 
oppression.  She  resisted  it  and  took  up  arms  for  independence. 
The  American  people  sympathized  deeply  with  the  Greeks. 
Meetings  were  held  all  over  the  country  to  express  that  sympa- 
thy. Eesolutions  were  passed.  The  press  was  ablaze  with  Greek 
sympathy.  Money,  clothing,  provisions,  arms,  were  collected 
and  sent  to  Greece.  Men  volunteered  to  go  into  her  service. 
The  Greek  cause  was  immensely  popular.  The  struggling 
Greeks  appealed  to  the  United  States  for  assistance;  but  Mr. 
Adams  remained  true  to  his  principles,  and  in  his  correspond- 
ence with  the  Greek  minister,  said:  "But  while  cheering  with 
their  best  wishes  the  cause  of  the  Greeks,  the  United  States  are 
forbidden,  by  the  duties  of  their  situation,  from  taking  part  in 
the  war,  to  which  their  relation  is  that  of  neutrality.  At  peace 
themselves  with  all  the  world,  their  established  policy  and  the 
obligations  of  the  laws  of  nations,  preclude  them  from  becoming 
voluntary  auxiliaries  to  a  cause  which  would  involve  them  in 
war." 

During  his  term  of  office  the  Seminole  war  came  on  and  tne 


JOHN   QUIXCY   ADAMS.  213 

difficulty  with  General  Jackson  in  trespassing  upon  the  Spanish 
territory  and  in  hanging  as  spies  two  British  subjects,  which, 
came  near  entangling  us  in  a  foreign  war.  Mr.  Adams  sup- 
ported Jackson  and  made  such  convincing  arguments  in  favor  of 
his  position  as  to  soothe  the  British  cabinet.  He  made  arrange- 
ments with  Spain  to  purchase  the  Floridas,  and  so  get  possession 
of  all  the  territory  on  the  Gulf  east  of  the  Mississippi.  This  was 
a  great  gratification  to  Mr.  Adams,  as  it  was  an  object  he  had 
labored  for  with  great  anxiety.  While  Spain  owned  the  Floridas 
we  were  in  danger  of  trouble.  During  nearly  all  of  Mr.  Adam's 
term  of  office  under  Monroe,  he  was  the  subject  of  bitter  political 
persecution.  The  old  hatred  of  the  federalists  was  not  all  dead. 
Some  of  those  who  hated  his  father  hated  him  for  his  father's 
sake.  He  was  a  mighty  man,  and  had  come  from  abroad  to  hurt 
somebody's  prospects  for  the  presidency.  Henry  Clay  had 
wanted  to  be  secretary  of  state  under  Monroe,-  so  he  was  made 
an  enemy  of  Adams  and  the  adminstration.  His  prospects  for 
the  presidency  were  hurt.  Crawford,  of  Georgia,  was  ambitious 
and  sorry  to  see  Adams  called  home  to  be  in  his  way.  Clinton, 
of  New  York,  was  an  aspirant  for  the  presidency  also,  and  he 
and  his  friends  were  annoyed  by  the  diplomat's  occupancy  of  the 
first  place  in  Monroe's  government.  The  press,  in  the  interest 
of  these  and  other  aspirants  for  position,  failed  not  to  serve 
them  in  roundly  abusing  Mr.  Adams.  It  called  him  "a 
royalist,"  "a  friend  of  oligarchy,"  "a  misanthrope;  educated  in 
contempt  of  his  fellowmen,"  as  "unfit  to  be  the  minister  of  a 
free  and  virtuous  people."  Mr.  Monroe  was  warned  of  him  as 
"full  of  duplicity,"  as  "an  incubus  on  his  prospects  for  the  next 
presidency,  and  his  popularity."  In  reply  to  all  this  and  much 
more  Mr.  Adams  went  quietly  on  doing  his  duty.  When  asked 
by  his  friends  to  defend  himself  against  these  abuses,  he  replied 
that  a  faithful  discharge  of  his  duty  to  his  country  was  his  best 
defense. 

The  introduction  of  Missouri  into  the  Union  was  an  event 
which  occasioned  one  of  the  most  thorough  discussions  whicb 
the  question  of  slavery  had  ever  had.  It  was  really  the  begin- 
ning of  the  great  struggle,  which  never  ended  till  that  institution 


214  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

went  down  in  a  sea  of  Wood.  Missouri  was  the  first  state  to  be 
admitted  which  had  grown  up  on  the  Louisiana  purchase. 
Others  were  to  follow.  The  south  desired  to  carry  slavery  into 
all  that  territory  and  to  carve  it  up  into  states  devoted  to  its 
interests.  The  north  wished  to  devote  it  to  the  freedom  whic'. 
the  republic  was  founded  to  promote.  The  south  had  sent  its 
best  men  to  Congress,  as  was  its  custom  in  me  days  of  slavery, 
when  there  was  little  to  employ  its  best  taieni.  out  politics.  The 
north  was  busy  in  its  multiplied  business  aifairs.  It  was  Mr. 
Adams'  opinion  that  the  southern  side  of  Congress  was  the 
stronger  and  much  more  persistent.  It  was  perfectly  united, 
and  had  a  great  interest  as  it  believed  to  contend  for;  while  the 
north  had  many  opinions  and  no  interests  in  the  question  but 
those  of  patriotism  and  humanity.  William  Pinkney,  James 
Barbour,  Henry  Clay,  John  C.  Calhoun.  were  then  leaders  in 
the  debate  on  the  southern  side,  while  Rufus  King,  perhaps,  was 
the  only  northern  man  then  in  Congress,  equal  to  them  in 
debate.  Mr.  Adams,  as  secretary  of  state,  was  simply  a  looker 
on  in  the  public  debate,  except  as  he  conversed  frequently  with 
the  speakers  on  both  sides.  He  recorded  his  conversations  and 
opinions  and  the  essential  facts  in  the  whole  case.  He  was  him- 
self intensely  opposed  to  slavery,  so  much  so,  that  he  felt  that 
the  makers  of  the  constitution  had  made  a  mistake  in  com- 
promising with  it.  He  saw  that  it  was  imDeriling  and  must 
ultimately  destroy  the  union  or  be  itself  destroyed.  The  subject 
went  into  cabinet  meetings.  Mr.  Calhoun  did  not  think  the 
Union  would  be  dissolved,  but  if  it  was,  the  south  would  join 
with  England  and  make  their  states  military  communities.  Mr. 
Adams  assured  him  that  if  the  matter  was  pressed  to  a  dissolution 
of  the  Union,  it  would  be  followed  by  universal  emancipation; 
and  a  more  remote  result  might  be  the  extermination  of  the 
colored  race  in  this  country.  Mr.  Adams  would  defend  the 
colored  people  against  slavery  on  account  of  their  weakness, 
"and  if  the  dissolution  of  the  Union  must  come,"  he  said,  "let 
it  come  from  no  other  cause  but  this.  If  slavery  be  the  destined 
sword,  in  the  hand  of  the  destroying  angel,  which  is  to  sever  the 
ties  of  this  Union,  the  same  sword  will  cut  assunder  the  bonds  of 


JOHN   QUINCY   ADAMS.  215 

slavery  itself."  It  was  his  conviction  that  slavery  could  not 
long  survive  the  dissolution  of  the  union.  He  thought  then 
was  the  time  to  settle  the  question  of  the  extension  of  slavery, 
for  he  said:  "  Time  will  only  show  whether  the  contest  may  ever 
be  renewed  with  equal  advantage."  And  he  wrote:  "  Oh,  if  but 
one  man  could  arise  with  a  genius  capable  of  comprehending,  a 
heart  capable  of  supporting,  and  an  utterance  capable  of  com- 
municating, those  eternal  truths  which  belong  to  the  question, — 
to  lay  bare  in  all  its  nakedness  that  outrage  upon  the  goodness 
of  God,  human  slavery, — now  is  the  time,  and  this  is  the 
occasion,  upon  which  such  a  man  would  perform  the  duties  of 
an  angel  upon  earth." 

Again  he  wrote  :  "  Slavery  is  the  great  and  foul  stain  on  the 
American  Union,  and  it  is  a  contemplation  worthy  of  the  most 
exalted  soul,  whether  its  total  abolition  is  not  practicable.  This 
object  is  vast  in  its  compass,  awful  in  its  prospects,  sublime  and 
beautiful  in  its  issue.  A  life  devoted  to  it  would  be  nobly  spent 
and  sacrificed."  His  soul  revolted  at  human  slavery  as  contain- 
ing every  foul  principle  against  which  the  American  revolution 
was  waged,  and  opposed  to  every  good  principle  of  the  American 
republic.  It  violated  fhe  rights  of  human  nature  and  the  polit- 
ical freedom  our  government  was  established  to  guarantee  to  its 
people.  This  discussion  intensified  his  abhorrence  of  slavery  and 
the  bitter  fruits  it  bore  in  the  slaveholders  themselves,  and  did 
much  to  give  a  strong  anti-slavery  tone  to  the  rest  of  his  life. 

The  debate  resulted  in  a  compromise,  known  ever  since  as  the 
"Missouri  Compromise,"  which  admitted  Missouri  as  a  slave  state, 
but  prohibited  slavery  in  the  remaining  portion  of  the  Louisiana 
purchase  north  of  latitude  thirty-six  degrees  and  thirty  minutes. 

Mr.  Monroe's  administration  was  so  wisely  conducted  that  it 
resulted  in  great  prosperity  to  the  country.  The  war  was  over 
and  brought  its  good  results  to  our  commerce  and  the  increased 
confidence  of  foreign  nations  ;  agriculture  developed  rapidly ; 
manufactures  increased  and  were  protected  and  fostered  by  the 
government ;  political  animosities  and  jealousies  subsided,  and 
the  people  began  to  feel  that  their  government  was  founded  to 
be  permanent.  Internal  improvements'  were  begun  and  the 


216  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

people  began  to  accept  the  lessons  of  experience  and  the  wisdom 
of  righteousness  as  worth  more  than  ideal  theories.  In  all  these 
good  attainments  of  Mr.  Monroe's  administration,  Mr.  Adams  is 
to  be  credited  with  no  small  share  of  honor.  He  was  the 
diplomat ;  his  the  great  philosophic  mind  which  did  much  to 
shape  and  give  tone  to.  the  measures  and  spirit  of  the  govern- 
ment. Adams  was  the  thinker,  Monroe  was  the  practical  execu- 
tive of  the  administration.  They  complemented  each  other  and 
did  more  and  better  together  than  either  could  have  done  without 
the  other.  The  "era  of  good  feeling''  which  they  secured  was 
first  realized  by  the  president  and  secretary  in  the  unity  and 
harmony  of  their  deliberations.  During  Mr.  Adams'  secretary- 
ship, the  affairs  of  our  government  were  put  upon  a  better  foot- 
ing than  they  ever  had  been  before. 

THE    PRESIDENT. 

On  the  fourth  of  March,  1825,  Mr.  Adams  was  inaugurated 
sixth  president  of  the  United  States.  There  was  no  election  by 
the  people  on  account  of  the  many  candidates.  "Of  two  hun- 
dred and  sixty-one  electoral  votes,  General  Jackson  received 
ninety-nine,  Mr.  Adams  eighty-four,  Mr.  Crawford  forty-one, 
and  Mr.  Clay  thirty-seven." 

By  the  constitution  the  election  was  thrown  into  the  House 
of  Representatives,  in  which  Mr.  Adams  received  a  majority  of 
all  the  votes  and  was  elected.  John  C.  Calhoun  was  nearly 
unanimously  elected  vice-president. 

Mr.  Monroe's  administration,  by  various  causes,  had  nearly 
silenced  the  federal  party,  so  that  the  several  candidates  for  the 
presidency  were  essentially  of  the  same  party.  The  differences 
were  chiefly  local  and  sectional.  They  inaugurated  a  season  of 
stormy  strife  in  which  personal  qualities  more  than  political 
principles,  carried  on  bitter  controversies. 

Andrew  Jackson,  one  of  the  defeated  candidates,  claimed  at 
once  that  he  was  defeated  by  a  bargain  between  Adams  and 
Clay,  the  outward  evidence  of  which  was  that  Clay  was  made 
secretary  of  state.  Jackson  took  his  state,  Tennessee,  with  him 
in  his  denunciation  of  Adams  and  Clay,  and  opposition  to  their 


JOHIST   QUINCY   ADAMS.  217 

administration.  That  state  took  "time  by  the  forelock,"  and 
at  once  nominated  Jackson  for  the  next  president.  He  resigned 
his  seat  in  the  United  States  Senate  to  conduct  his  campaign  for 
the  next  election.  This  raised  at  once  personal  animosities, 
ambitions  and  partisans,  which  easily  disturbed  the  peaceful 
administration  of  the  government.  Jackson  was  not  a  man  to 
soften  any  personal  prejudice,  or  yield  any  personal  ambitions; 
Adams  was  not  a  man  to  yield  any  conscientious  conviction  or 
swerve  from  any  duty.  Two  strong  men  could  not  well  be 
more  unlike  in  character,  education  and  purpose  in  life.  One 
was  educated,  broad,  generous,  high-minded;  the  other  was 
natural,  concentrated,  passionate,  generous  to  his  friends  a±id 
vindictive  to  his  supposed  enemies.  They  agreed  in  party 
affiliation,  but  Jackson's  defeat  put  him  upon  his  military  spirit, 
and  he  marshalled  his  forces  for  a  battle. 

Mr.  Adams  was  the  first  man  made  president,  who  had  no 
personal  part  in  the  revolution.  Yet  he  was  born  of  its  spirit 
and  true  to  its  principles.  No  man  ever  understood  better  its 
fundamental  principles,  or  gave  them  a  heartier  devotion,  or  a 
grander  illustration  in  his  life.  No  man  ever  threw  upon  them 
a  clearer  light  from  a  great  intellect  and  a  noble  heart. 

Mr.  Adams  was  the  second  president  from  the  northern 
states,  his  father  being  the  first.  The  four  others  were-  from 
Virginia.  Three  southern  candidates  ran  against  him  and  no 
northern  one. 

The  removing  and  appointing  power  of  the  president  is  very 
great;  yet  Mr.  Adams  "made  but  two  removals,  both  from 
unquestionable  causes;  and  in  his  new  appointments,  he  waj 
scrupulous  in  selecting  candidates  whose  talents  were  adapted  tc 
the  public  service."  He  appointed  some  federalists  to  office, 
but  was  severely  censured  by  his  southern  democratic  friends  foi 
it.  It  was  his  intention  invariably  to  make  ability  and  integrity 
the  qualifications  for  office. 

In  his  first  message,  Mr.  Adams  made  several  important 
recommendations  :  "  The  maturing  into  a  permanent  and  reg- 
ular system  the  application  of  all  the  superfluous  revenues  of  the 
Union  to  internal  improvement;"  "the  establishment  of  a  uni- 


218  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

form  standard  of  weights  and  measures;"  "the  establishment 
of  a  naval  school  of  instruction  for  the  formation  of  scientific 
and  accomplished  officers;"  "the  establishment  of  a  national 
university/'  which  had  been  recommended  by  Washington. 

In  all  these  recommendations,  he  was  looking  to  the  per- 
manence, progress  and  character  of  the  nation.  He  was  not 
simply  playing  president  for  the  glory  of  it,  he  was  nation  build- 
ing He  was  a  national  man;  had  studied  national  affairs  in 
this  country  and  Europe,  in  history  and  in  the  nature  of  men. 
all  his  life,  and  now  ripened,  conscientious  and  large-hearted, 
he  was  applying  his  knowledge,  patriotism  and  humanity,  to 
the  conduct  and  development  of  the  national  character  and 
resources.  He  was  too  clear-seeing,  downright  and  genuine  to  be 
understood  by  the  average  politicians  and  people  of  his  day, 
unless  they  were  those  who  came  into  daily  intercourse  with 
him.  He  would  not  truckle ;  he  would  not  conciliate  to  the 
loss  of  self-respect ;  he  would  not  yield  to  partisan  wrong ;  so 
he  was  misunderstood,  maligned,  abused,  by  multitudes  in  high 
places  and  low,  incapable  of  appreciating  his  disinterested, 
manly  and  dignified  character.  In  that  early  day  he  wanted  to 
protect  and  encourage  American  manufactures ;  wanted  a  sys- 
tem of  internal  improvements ;  wanted  a  civil  service  based  on 
merit ;  a  uniform  system  of  weights  and  measures,  a  subject 
which  he  had  deeply  studied,  a  written  report  of  which  had 
gained  him  great  credit  in  Europe ;  wanted  a  naval  academy 
and  a  national  university,  all  of  which  are  level  with  the  best 
thought  of  our  time.  On  these  things,  and  many  more,  he 
was  simply  fifty  years  in  advance  of  his  age.  Indeed,  his  was 
the  colossal  mind  of  his  time,  enriched  beyond  any  of  his  coun- 
trymen in  political  learning,  and  fired  with  a  noble  patriotism. 

During  Mr.  Adams'  administration,  the  Marquis  de  La- 
fayette visited  the  United  States  for  the  last  time.  Congress 
desired  to  send  a  ship  for  him,  but  he  preferred  to  come  in  a 
less  formal  way.  He  arrived  in  New  York  on  the  fifteenth  of 
August,  1824.  His  reception  in  New  York  was  sublime  and 
brilliant  in  the  extreme.  He  proceeded  from  New  York  on  a 
tour  through  the  United  States,  which  was  everywhere  a  pageant 


JOHN   QUINCY   ADAMS.  219 

and  an  ovation.  The  people  gathered  en  masse  from  hamlet, 
village  and  city  to  welcome  and  honor  him.  Every  possible 
form  of  demonstration  was  made  to  assure  him  of  the  love  of  the 
American  people  for  their  nation's  benefactor  and  guest. 

On  the  seventeenth  of  June,  1825,  the  anniversary  of  the 
battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  he  assisted  in  laying  the  corner  stone  of 
the  Bunker  Hill  monument,  which  now  stands  a  grand  granite 
story-teller  of  that  great  event. 

On  the  seventh  of  September,  1825,  he  took  his  leave  of  a 
grateful  people,  in  the  president's  house  at  Washington,  in  the 
midst  of  the  officers  of  the  government,  civil  and  military. 
President  Adams  addressed  him  in  golden  words  which  will 
never  die,  and  he  responded  in  a  tender,  felicitous  and  impres- 
sive farewell,  which  unborn  generations  will  read  with  tearful 
eyes.  He  then  threw  himself  into  the  arms  of  the  president 
and  gave  free  vent  to  sobs  and  tears,  the  whole  assembly  joining 
with  him.  As  he  left  the  president  he  said,  in  broken  accents, 
"God  bless  you/'  and  then  reached  out  his  hands  for  the 
embraces  of  the  assembly,  and  for  a  little  while  the  "  hero  was 
lost  in  the  father  and  friend. " 

In  a  little  while  the  boat  was  ready  that  was  to  convey  him 
down  the  river  to  the  Brandywine,  which  frigate  Congress  had 
provided  to  take  him  home. 

When  the  boat  reached  Mount  Vernon,  Lafayette  went  in 
silence  to  the  tomb  of  Washington.  "All  hearts  beat  in  unison 
with  the  veteran's  bosom  as  he  looked  for  the  last  time  on  the 
sepulcher  which  contained  the  ashes  of  the  first  of  men.  He 
spoke  not,  but  appeared  absorbed  in  the  mighty  recollections 
which  the  place  and  the  occasion  inspired." 

After  this  he  returned  to  the  boat,  which  proceeded  to  the 
Brandywine,  where  the  secretaries  and  escorts  took  leave  of  him, 
and  he  went  on  board  and  departed  from  the  country  he  had 
loved  and  had  offered  his  life  to  found  and  make  free. 

While  Mr.  Adams  was  president,  July  4,  1826,  his  father, 
John  Adams,  and  Thomas  Jefferson,  gave  up  this  life,  in  the 
midst  of  the  festivities  of  the  nation's  jubilee. 

His  mother  had  died  in  1818.     Mr.  Adams  was  deeply  moved 


220  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

by  these  events.     He  had  a  profound  regard  for  his  great  and 
honored  parents. 

Mr.  Adams'  administration  closed  as  it  began  and  was  car- 
ried through,  with  the  utmost  purity,  dignity  and  political 
-wisdom.  It  was  devoted  to  a  pure  public  service  and  a  zealous 
and  patriotic  development  of  the  national  resources  and  char- 
acter. From  the  beginning  it  was  opposed  by  unscrupulous, 
vindictive  and  partisan  men  and  measures,  which,  in  the  light 
of  after  developments,  only  set  forth  his  worth  in  a  richer  light. 
By  falsity,  malice  and  unscrupulous  personal  ambition,  the  peo- 
ple were  deceived  in  relation  to  him  and  the  purity  and  wisdom 
of  his  administration,  and  so  he  was  remanded  to  the  quiet  of 
Quincy  at  the  close  of  his  one  term  of  service  as  president. 
Now  it  is  known  to  all  unbiased  students  of  history  that  our 
country  has  had  no  wiser  or  purer  administration  than  that  of 
John  Quincy  Adams. 

REPRESENTATIVE  IN  CONGRESS. 

Mr.  Adams  remained  in  retirement  only  about  a  year.  In 
the  autumn  of  1830,  it  began  to  be  talked  that  the  people  of 
Plymouth  county  would  like  to  have  the  ex-president  represent 
them  in  Congress.  Impossible,  thought  some  men,  who  stood 
more  on  dignity  than  patriotic  service.  Would  he  accept  an 
election  to  the  House  of  Representatives?  asked  a  great  many. 
Some  thought  it  would  be  improper ;  some  thought  it  would  be 
degrading;  some  thought  it  would  be  a  noble  thing  to  do.  So 
was  the  public  mind  divided.  But  in  due  time  he  received  the 
nomination,  and  said  in  a  letter  of  response:  "I  am  not  aware 
of  any  sound  principle  which  would  justify  me  in  withholding 
my  services  from  my  fellow  citizens."  So  he  was  elected,  and 
in  December,  1831,  took  his  seat  in  the  lower  House  of  Congress. 
And  his  reputation  did  not  suffer  by  this  patriotic  acceptance  of 
a  post  of  heavy  labor,  but  was  immeasurably  advanced  by  it. 
He  exhibited  a  fund  of  knowledge,  so  vast  and  profound ;  a 
familiarity  so  perfect  with  nearly  every  topic  which  claimed  the 
attention  of  Congress;  he  could  bring  forth  from  his  well-replen- 
ished store  of  memory  so  vast  an  array  of  facts,  shedding  light 


JOHN  QUINCY   ADAMS.  221 

upon  subjects  deeply  obscured  to  others ;  displayed  such  readi- 
ness and  power  in  debate,  pouring  out  streams  of  purest  elo- 
quence, or  launching  forth  the  most  scathing  denunciations, 
when  he  deemed  them  called  for — that  his  most  bitter  opposers, 
Avhile  trembling  before  his  sarcasm,  and  dreading  his  assaults, 
could  not  but  grant  him  the  meed  of  their  highest  admiration. 
Well  did  he  deserve  the  title  conferred  upon  him,  by  general  con- 
sent, of  "The  Old  Man  Eloquent." 

He  was  at  once  made  chairman  of  the  committee  of  manu- 
factures; then  a  most  important  committee,  as  it  involved  the 
question  of  tariff,  which  separated  the  north  and  south.  The 
northern  manufacturers  wanted  their  goods  protected  against  a 
ruinous  competition,  while  the  southern  planters  wanted  free 
trade.  The  difference  was  so  great,  and  the  discussion  of  it  so  vio- 
lent, that  some  feared  it  would  break  up  the  Union.  Mr.  Adams  on 
this  committee  urged  moderation  upon  both  sides;  and  with  his 
profound  knowledge  of  the  whole  subject,  and  all  the  interests 
involved,  he  was  able  to  keep  a  living  harmony  between  them, 
by  adjusting  the  tariff  to  the  diverse  conditions  of  the  whole 
country. 

He  was  able  to  be  the  great  pacificator  on  this  vexed  subject. 

In  1835,  the  people  of  Texas,  then  a  province  of  Mexico, 
took  up  arms  against  the  Mexican  government.  In  essence,  it 
was  a  rebellion.  The  inhabitants  of  Texas  were,  for  the  most 
part,  emigrants  from  the  south  and  southwestern  states  of  our 
Union,  and  some  of  them  emigrants  for  their  country's  good. 
Mexico  had  abolished  slavery,  so  that  Texas  was  free  territory. 
These  emigrants  from  the  southern  part  of  the  Union,  desired 
to  reestablish  slavery  in  Texas.  It  was  easy  to  find  an  occasion 
for  war  against  their  adopted  country,  for  this  purpose.  The 
plan  was  to  get  up  a  war,  declare  independence,  get  help  from 
the  United  States  to  maintain  it ;  annex  to  the  United  States, 
and  so  become  a  slave  country  again.  And  the  plan  carried  in 
every  particular. 

General  Jackson,  president  at  that  time,  sent  troops  to  the 
border,  ostensibly  to  see  that  the  Indians  did  not  assist  the  Mex- 
icans. A  call  was  made  on  Congress  for  a  million  of  dollars  to 


222  OUK   PRESIDENTS. 

carry  on  the  military  operations  for  keeping  the  Indians  from 
aiding  the  Mexicans. 

Mr.  Adams,  in  a  speech  made  in  Congress,  on  this  call  for 
money,  in  May,  1836,  unriddled  this  whole  plan  ;  and  in  another 
•speech  pointed  out  the  course  of  the  administration  toward 
Mexico,  and  its  desire  to  get  a  large  slice  of  her  territory,  enough 
for  several  new  slave  states. 

Charge  was  made  against  Mr.  Adams,  that  in  negotiating  for 
the  Floridas  he  had  ceded  the  whole  of  Texas  to  Mexico,  and 
General  Jackson,  the  president,  was  referred  to  as  authority  for 
the  statement.  Mr.  Adams  assured  Congress,  that  when  that 
negotiation  was  made,  he  laid  it  before  General  Jackson  and  it 
received  his  approval.  Jackson  denied  this;  but  Mr.  Adams 
produced  his  diary,  where  the  facts  and  dates  were  recorded  as 
he  had  stated. 

This  movement  to  enlarge  the  slave  territory,  aroused  the 
people  of  the  north  to  the  aggressive  and  multiplying  and  over- 
bearing character  of  slavery ;  and  they  at  once  began  to  discuss 
it,  and  consider  the  subject  of  its  restraint.  Petitions  began  to 
be  sent  to  Congress  for  the  abolition  of  slavery  and  the  slave 
trade  in  the  District  of  Columbia  and  the  territories.  These 
petitions  were  usually  sent  to  Mr.  Adams  and  he  presented  them. 
They  multiplied,  and  he  still  presented  them.  He  respected 
the  people's  right  of  petition,  and  felt  it  his  duty  to  give  their 
respectful  petitions  a  respectful  presentation.  Whatever  the 
subject  petitioned  for,  he  presented  the  petition.  He  did  it 
chiefly  to  maintain  the  right  of  petition  to  a  free  people.  It 
often  caused  fearful  and  disgraceful  scenes  in  the  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives, brought  upon  him  storms  of  abuse ;  yet,  with 
unflinching  moral  purpose  and  courage,  he  continued,  through 
several  terms  to  present  the  petitions,  sometimes  two  hundred  a 
day,  and  the  House  continued  to  lay  them  on  the  table.  By 
resolutions,  votes,  intimidations,  threats  of  assassination  and 
expulsion,  and  the  most  insulting  abuse,  he  was  resisted.  The 
House  was  often  in  anarchy,  but  with  unwavering  firmness, 
adroitly  watching  his  opportunity  to  speak  for  the  right  of 
petition,  he  presented  petitions,  till  at  last  he  won  a  triumphant 


JOHN   QUINXJY   ADAMS.  223 

victory.  Long  is  the  history  of  that  memorable  contest,  but 
there  is  room  here  for  only  this  reference  to  it. 

In  December,  1835,  President  Jackson  sent  to  Congress  a 
message  relative  to  a  bequest  of  four  hundred  thousand  dollars, 
from  James  Smithson,  of  London,  to  the  United  States,  for  the 
purpose  of  establishing  at  Washington  an  institution  "for  the 
increase  and  diffusion  of  knowledge  among  men,"  and  referred 
the  subject  to  Congress  for  its  consideration.  The  message  was 
referred  to  a  committee  of  which  Mr.  Adams  was  made  chair- 
man. He  entered  into  the  acceptance  and  use  of  this  gift  with 
great  spirit.  He  gave  the  whole  strength  of  his  mind  and  heart 
to  carrying  the  designs  of  Mr.  Smithson  into  effect.  Mr. 
Adams  made  a  report  to  Congress  on  the  subject  in  which  he 
set  forth  the  nobleness  of  the  purpose  of  the  donor,  the  breadth 
and  grandeur  of  the  results  to  mankind  of  that  purpose  faith- 
fully and  wisely  carried  out;  the  honor  thus  conferred  upon  our 
country,  and  something  of  the  history  of  the  Smithson  family  as 
among  the  most  honored  in  the  British  kingdom.  He  con- 
cluded his  report  by  offering  a  bill  authorizing  the  president  to 
receive  and  take  measures  to  found  The  Smithsonian  Institute. 
Few  public  acts  of  Mr.  Adams  gave  him  more  pleasure.  When 
the  fund  was  received  he  was  more  instrumental  than  any  other 
man  in  founding  the  great  institution  which  is  such  an  honor 
and  aid  to  our  country  and  mankind.  In  his  addresses  on  this 
subject  he  displayed  a  great  amount  of  scientific  and  historical 
learning.  Probably  no  other  public  man  in  the  country  so 
valued  solid  learning  or  so  signally  illustrated  its  effects  in  his 
own  life. 

In  the  latter  part  of  his  life,  when  he  was  ripe  in  years  as  he 
was  in  learning  and  virtue,  he  gave  in  many  parts  of  the  country 
and  on  many  important  occasions,  addresses,  orations,  speeches, 
which  abound  in  wisdom,  learning,  patriotism  and  high  moral 
sentiment.  There  was  hardly  any  subject  of  great  importance 
that  he  did  not  speak  upon  in  and  out  of  Congress.  The  sub- 
jects of  slavery,  internal  improvements,  the  advancement  of  the 
country,  dueling,  intemperance,  corruption  in  office  and  in  poli- 
tics, were  constantly  receiving  his  most  vigorous  attention.  Ho 


224  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

often  arraigned  his  country  for  its  injustice  and  cruelty  to  the 
Negro  and  the  Indian.  On  every  possible  occasion  he  pleaded 
for  justice  in  their  behalf,  and  righteous  dealing  as  the  law 
for  a  nation  as  for  an  individual. 

His  discussion  in  Congress  of  the  subject  of  dueling  in  the 
presence  of  duelers,  illustrates  the  courage  and  character  of  the 
grand  old  man  who  never  cowered  in  human  presence  or  was 
turned  from  duty  by  human  insolence  or  power. 

He  was  often  pained  and  mortified  by  the  sectionalism, 
venality  and  brutality  of  members  of  Congress  and  higher  officers 
of  government,  and  never  hesitated  in  his  place  to  censure  those 
whose  conduct  disgraced  his  country.  He  was  such  a  living 
encyclopaedia  of  learning,  history,  law,  moral  principle  and 
religious  devotion,  that  he  was  a  standing  rebuke  to  the  selfish, 
sectional  and  party  spirit  that  controlled  many  of  the  officials 
and  politicians  about  him.  He  was  profoundly  anxious  lest  these 
evil  spirits  should  degenerate  and  destroy  his  country  which 
to  him  was  the  hope  of  the  world.  He  had  lived  through  its 
whole  existence,  been  honored  by  all  its  presidents,  held  high 
offices  under  them  all,  been  president  himself;  had  a  history  of 
every  important  transaction  and  of  the  attitude  and  conduct  of 
every  leading  individual  connected  with  the  government  from 
the  beginning;  had  a  record  also  of  the  action  and  politics  of 
all  foreign  governments  and  our  relations  to  them;  of  the  prog- 
ress of  our  legislation,  of  the  tariff,  internal  improvements,  the 
development  of  our  manufactures,  the  extension  of  our  terri- 
tory; of  the  extension  of  slavery  and  the  artifices  by  which  it 
had  been  accomplished;  in  a  word  he  had  a  record  of  oui 
national  life  in  his  and  his  father's  diary  and  his  accurate  and 
capacious  memory  supplied  all  the  details;  so  that  he  was 
authority — the  nation  in  himself,  all  the  later  years  of  his  life; 
the  patriarch  of  America,  having  been  instrumental  in  develop- 
ing and  preserving  this  grand  national  estate. 

He  had  great  interest  in  the  temperance  cause,  which  in  his 
later  years  was  commanding  the  attention  of  his  countrymen. 
He  understood  its  necessity  and  usefulness,  and  gave  it  the 
powerful  support  of  his  voice  and  example. 


JOHN   QUINCY    ADAMS.  225 

Through  his  whole  life  Mr.  Adams  was  an  intense  worker; 
he  studied  everything  he  took  hold  of  to  the  bottom;  always 
made  sure  that  he  was  right  before  speaking;  always  knew  his 
authority;  took  infinite  pains  to  know  the  whole  of  every 
subject  that  was  important  to  the  well  being  of  his  country.  He 
was  usually  the  first  man  in  his  seat  every  morning  in  the  House, 
and  the  last  man  to  leave  at  night.  He  gave  an  absorbing 
interest  to  the  business  in  hand;  and  was  very  much  of  the  time 
in  resolute  opposition  to  the  legislation  of  Congress,  as  it  was 
through  his  whole  congressional  career,  in  the  interest  of  slavery 
and  its  extension.  That  interest  removed  him  from  the 
presidential  chair  and  controlled  the  administrations  of  Jackson, 
Van  Buren,  and  Tyler  —  controlled  the  government  from  his 
removal  from  the  presidency  to  the  day  of  his  death. 

Mr.  Adams  was  a  man  of  great  physical  vigor,  which 
sustained  him  in  active  health  through  the  intense  labors  of  his 
long  life.  He  was  an  early  riser,  an  absteminous  liver,  temperate, 
prudent,  regular  in  all  his  habits ;  an  excellent  walker,  often 
walking  a  number  of  miles  before  breakfast;  a  good  swimmer; 
fond  of  good  company;  an  excellent,  talker;  a  lover  of  home; 
simple  and  republican  in  dress  and  manners;  plain,  honest, 
genuine;  too  fair  and  square,  and  positive  to  be  popular;  yet  so 
thorough,  and  manly  and  grand  as  to  command  almost  universal 
respect.  He  was  a  genuine  Puritan,  .deeply  and  consistently 
religious;  a  great  student  of  the  bible,  a  Unitarian  in  theology, 
yet  in  hearty  sympathy  with  all  Christian  people.  He  was  a 
reformer  —  a  maker  anew  of  life's  ways,  so  vigorous  and 
persistent  as  to  seem  to  be  an  iconoclast.  In  his  opposition  to 
wrong  he  used  solid  shot — words  that  wounded,  that  smelt  of 
passion  and  power.  He  was  no  milk-and-water  man,  was  mighty 
in  fire  and  storm — a  granite  tower  in  the  whirlwind  defying  its 
assaults.  All  in  all,  he  was  one  of  America's  grandest  products, 
honored  at  last  in  all  the  world  as  one  of  its  greatest  and  bes>; 
men.  On  the  twentieth  of  November,  1846,  he  was  stricken 
with  paralysis  at  his  son's  house  in  Boston.  This  confined  him 
for  several  weeks.  But  at  the  opening  of  Congress  he  returned 
to  his  post,  and  was  prompt  and  active  as  he  had  always  been, 
15 


226 


OUR    PRESIDENT'S. 


until  the  twenty-first  of  February,  1848,  at  half -past  one  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon,  he  was  stricken  again.  He  was  caught  and 
held  from  falling  by  members  near  him.  He  was  unconscious, 
till  three  o'clock,  when  consciousness  returned  and  he  said, 
faintly:  "  This  is  the  end  of  earth,  I  AM  CONTENT."  These  were 
his  last  words.  He  lived  until  seven  o'clock  in  the  evening  of 
the  twenty-third,  when  the  spirit  of  John  Quincy  Adams  left 
the  scenes  of  earth  for  those  in  the  immortal  realm  of  its  father, 
in  the  eighty-first  year  of  its  age.  Thus  closed  a  life  which  will 
ever  be  worthy  of  the  profoundest  study  and  emulation  of  man- 
kind. 


JOHN  QUIKC5T  ADAMS.  227 


1  HE  CRAVE  OF  IOHN  ©UINCY  JlDAMS. 

In  the  crypt  in  that  portion  of  Braintree,  Massachusetts, 
now  known  as  Quincy,  with  the  immortal  remains  of  John 
Adams,  his  father,  rest  the  forms  of  John  Quincy  Adams  and 
his  wife,  Louisa  Catharine.  The  tomb  is  surmounted  by  a  bust, 
beneath  which  are  the  words,  "Alteri  Sceculo,"  divided  by  an 
acorn  and  two  oak  leaves.  Over  the  tablet  is  "  Thy  Kingdom 
Come."  As  on  the  tablet  of  John  Adams,  the  first  column  is 
devoted  to  the  president  and  the  other  to  his  wife.  The 
inscription  reads  as  follows  : 

Near  this  place  reposes  all  that  could  die  of 


SON  OF  JOHN  AND  ABIGAIL  (SMITH)  ADAMS, 
Sixth  President  of  the  United  States. 

Born  11  of  July,  1767,  Amidst  the  Storms  of  Civil  Commotion. 
He  Nursed  the  Vigor  which  Inspires  a  Christian 
For  more  than  half  a  Century. 

"Whenever  His  Country  Called  for  His  Labors, 

In  either  Hemisphere  or  in  any  Capacity, 

He  Never  Spared  them  in  Her  Cause. 

On  the  Twenty-fourth  of  December,  1814, 

He  signed  the  Second  Treaty  with  Great  Britain,  which  Restored 

Peace  within  her  Borders. 

On  the  Twenty-third  of  February,  1848,  he  closed  sixteen 
years  of  eloquent  'defense  of  the  lessons  of  his  youth  by 
dying  at  his  post  in  her  great  National  Council. 

A  Son  "Worthy  of  His  Father, 

A  Citizen  shedding  Glory  on  His  Country, 

A  Scholar   Ambitious    to    Advance    Mankind, 

This  Christian  sought  to  Walk  Humbly  in  the  Sight  of  God. 


228  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

The  second  column  on  this  tablet  records  the  important 
facts  in  the  life  of  his  "  Partner  for  fifty  years": 


Living  through  Many  Vicissitudes 

And  under  Many  Responsibilities  as  a 

Daughter,  Wife  and  Mother,  she  Proved  Equal  to  All. 

DYING, 

She  Left  to  Her  Family  and  Her  Sex  the  Blessed  Remembrance  of 
"A  WOMAN  THAT  FEARETII  THE  LORD." 

V 

Under  the  parallel  column  is  this  verse  : 

"  One  soweth  and  another  reapeth.  I  sent  you  to  reap  that 
whereon  ye  bestowed  no  labor.  Other  men  labored,  and  ye 
are  entered  into  their  labor." 

The  church  in  which  the  remains  were  deposited  in  1848  is  a 
massive  structure,  the  front  being  supported  by  heavy  columns, 
with  a  graceful  cupola  and  dome  above  it.  It  is  embowered  in 
immense  elm  and  chestnut  trees,  near  the  old  Adams  home- 
stead, and  is  now  owned  and  used  by  the  Unitarian  congregation 
of  Quincy,  with  which  the  Adamses  were  associated. 


•• 


I  I  I  I  I  i  t  1 1  i  t  i-t- 


CHAPTER  VIII 


ANDREW  JACKSOK. 

SEVENTH  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

turning  from  the  great  men  who  have  thus  far  occu- 
pied the  executive  chair  of  the  United  States,  to  those 
who  immediately  follow,  one  feels  that  he  has  been 


among  the  gods,  and  is  now  going  down  to  dwell  among 
perverse  and  passion-scarred  men.  The  descent  is  so  sudden, 
and  the  change  is  so  marked  with  violence  and  paltriness 
that  it  is  like  going  into  another  climate  or  civilization. 
The  first  six  presidents  were  men  of  strength,  breadth,  nobility  of 
character,  and  life — great  products  of  a  great  era.  They  differed 
much  from  each  other,  but  each  was  great  and  noble  in  his  way, 
a  tower  of  strength  to  the  republic,  a  royal  illustration  of  its 
principles,  a  magnificent  specimen  of  manhood.  Americans 
have  never  had  to  apologize  for  their  weaknesses,  while  the 
world  has  been  quick  to  do  them  honor,  and  the  greatest  of 
every  country  and  age  since  their  time  have  accepted  them  as 
peers  in  the  highest  realm  of  thought  and  action.  As  the  ages 
move  away,  their  renown  will  grow,  and  the  study  of  their 
exalted  characters  and  lives  will  quicken  the  generations  of  men 
in  what  is  most  manly  and  meritorious.  It  was  theirs  to  act 
conspicuous  parts  in  founding  the  republic,  and  conducting  its 
affairs  in  the  first  forty  years  of  its  existence.  It  is  largely  the 
product  of  their  wisdom  and  energy,  and  will  forever  stand  the 
monument  of  their  greatness  of  mind  and  worth  of  character. 


230  OUR    PRESIDENTS. 


ANDREW   JACKSON,   SENIOR. 

Andrew  Jackson,  Sr.,  and  his  wife,  were  of  Scotch-Irish 
descent.  Their  ancestors  had  gone  from  Scotland  to  the  north 
of  Ireland,  many  years  before  their  time.  They  were  poor,  and 
had  suffered  much  from  the  British  misgovernment  of  always 
oppressed  and  unhappy  Ireland.  They  had  little  love  for  Eng- 
land, she  had  so  dealt  with  their  adopted  country  with  an  iron 
hand.  To  get  away  from  her  immediate  oppression,  into  an 
American  colony  where  land  was  plenty  and  cheap;  where  fish 
and  game  could  be  had  for  the  taking;  where  sunshine  and  fuel 
were  abundant,  and  frost  and  snow  troubled  not,  became  an 
object  of  their  desire.  Gathering  up  their  scanty  store  of  goods 
and  money,  they  set  sail  for  Charleston,  South  Carolina.  This 
was  in  1765,  just  about  the  time  that  the  colonies  began  to  feel 
the  heavy  hand  of  British  oppression,  hindering  their  natural 
development. 

A  seaport  town  was  not  the  place  for  a  farmer  to  settle,  so 
Mr.  Jackson's  face  was  soon  set  toward  the  country.  He  fixed 
on  the  Waxhaw  settlement,  on  the  creek  of  that  name — a  branch 
of  the  Catawba  river — one  hundred  and  sixty-five  miles  north- 
west from  Charleston,  near  the  line  of  the  two  Carolinas.  The 
creek  and  settlement  took  their  name  from  a  tribe  of  Indians 
which  had  formerly  occupied  that  vicinity.  Here  the  Jackson's 
planted  their  hearthstone.  They  had  two  young  sons,  Hugh 
and  Kobert.  Here  they  erected  their  cabin  and  began  life  in  the 
American  wilderness.  The  next  year,  after  one  crop  had  been 
raised,  Mr.  Jackson  died.  The  desolate  widow,  in  this  wild 
waste  of  woods,  soon  became  the  mother  of  a  third  son,  which 
she  named  for  his  father,  Andrew.  He  was  born  March  15, 
1767.  When  the  mother  had  laid  the  form  of  her  husband  in 
the  grave,  she  went  immediately  to  her  sister  and  husband,  Mr. 
McKinney,  a  few  miles  away  in  North  Carolina.  There  was  born 
the  seventh  president  of  the  United  States.  To  all  human 
appearance  nothing  was  more  improbable  than  that  this  babe  of 
sorrow,  poverty  and  extreme  humility,  would  ever  rise  to  great- 
ness and  honor  among  men.  All  that  could  be  said  of  his 


ANDREW   JACKSON".  231 

parents  was,  that  they  were  good,  well-meaning  people.  They 
had  come  to  America  to  better  their  humble  condition.  They 
were  of  the  Presbyterian  faith,  and  the  sorrowful  but  trusting 
mother  conceived  the  idea  that,  if  possible,  this  babe  of  her  sor- 
row and  her  faith  should  be  educated  for  the  ministry.  Even 
this  would  have  seemed  impossible  to  everybody  but  a  mother. 
With  this  thought  actuating  her,  she  trained  his  young  mind  to 
duty,  and  religious  faith  and  life.  And  although  she  did  not 
see  her  desire  accomplished  in  him,  she  made  good  the  saying 
that  widow's  sons  often  rise  to  distinction.  Events  were  soon 
to  transpire  to  give  his  career  a  different  course. 

The  improbable  thing  that  this  child  of  most  unpropitious 
birth  should  become  distinguished  among  great  men,  would 
hardly  have  been  possible  any  where  but  in  America,  and  in  this 
free  republic.  Such  is  the  fruitage  of  republican  institutions. 

JACKSON'S  BOYHOOD. 

Three  weeks  after  Andrew's  birth,  Mrs.  Jackson  went  to  the 
home  of  another  sister  and  her  husband,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Craw- 
ford, where  she  did  the  work  of  the  family  for  ten  years,  her 
sister  being  an  invalid.  The  eldest  boy  was  left  at  Mr.  McKin- 
ney's.  Andrew  gained  here  in  a  rude  school  the  elements  of  an 
education.  It  was  with  great  difficulty  that  he  learned  to  spell; 
he  never  became  accomplished  in  that  art  so  difficult  to  some. 
He  did  better  at  reading  and  writing.  But  he  did  not  take 
kindly  to  his  books.  He  was  frolicsome,  fond  of  athletic  sports, 
and  grew  up  to  be  rough  and  coarse,  and  after  his  mother's 
death,  very  profane.  "He  was  a  rude,  turbulent  boy;"  imperi- 
ous, headstrong,  brave,  but  yet  generous.  In  person  and  char- 
acter he  presented  little  that  was  attractive  or  hopeful.  He  was 
tall  and  ungainly;  coarse  in  features,  lank  in  form;  his  hair 
coarse,  face  freckled  and  hard,  manners  rough  and  independent, 
'•'very  irascible  to  his  equals  and  superiors,"  but  generous  to  the 
younger  and  weaker. 

One  biographer  says  ne  went  to  an  academy  kept  in  the  old 
Waxhaw  meeting-house,  by  a  Mr.  Humphreys,  where  he  studied 


232  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

the  classics  and  mathematics  and  made  considerable  progress  in 
that  education  which  his  mother  wished  him  to  have. 

When  seven  years  old  the  Continental  Congress  had  met; 
when  eight,  the  battles  of  Lexington  and  Bunker  Hill  were 
•fought;  when  nine,  the  Declaration  of  Independence  was  signed. 
Of  course  these  great  events  were  talked  over  in  the  Waxhaw 
settlement  and  in  the  school  where  Andrew  was  studying. 
These  distant  communities  were  stirred  by  these  things.  South 
Carolina  and  Virginia  caught  the  fire  of  the  times  very  early. 
The  boys  grew  warlike  as  well  as  the  men. 

When  Andrew  was  thirteen  years  old,  the  war  came  to  his 
wilderness  home. 

On  the  twenty-ninth  of  May,  1780,  Colonel  Buford,  who  had 
a  small  American  force  at  Waxhaw,  was  attacked  by  Colonel 
Tarleton,  and  had  one  hundred  and  fifteen  of  his  men  killed  and 
one  hundred  and  fifty  wounded.  It  was  a  fearful  loss.  The 
meeting-house  was  converted  into  a  hospital.  Andrew  saw  this 
battle  and  its  terrible  Avorks  in  the  dead  and  suffering  men 
about  him.  This  was  his  first  sight  of  war.  He  and  his  brother 
Eobert  and  his  mother,  ministered  to  the  suffering  militia.  His 
brother  Hugh,  now  eighteen,  had  gone  with  a  detachment  of 
men  to  meet  and  head  off  Tarleton,  and  died  of  heat  and 
exhaustion  at  the  battle  of  Stono. 

In  the  following  August,  a  portion  of  Cornwallis'  army 
rushed  upon  Waxhaw,  and  the  inhabitants  fled,  and  among  them 
Mrs.  Jackson  and  her  two  boys. 

The  next  year  the  family  returned  to  desolated  Waxhaw. 
Andrew  was  now  fourteen,  tall,  slender  and  weak  from  his  rapid 
growth.  His  passionate  nature  was  aroused  to  avenge  his 
brother's  death  and  the  slaughter  of  his  neighbors. 

The  strife  between  the  whigs  and  tories  was  a  state  of  war. 
A  band  of  tories  made  a  midnight  attack  upon  the  house  of  a 
whig.  Andrew  Jackson  was  there  as  one  of  the  guards.  A 
little  battle  ensued  in  which  the  tories  were  repulsed.  Two  of 
Jackson's  associates  were  killed  by  his  side.  He  showed  the 
warrior  in  him  at  that  early  age. 

Not  far  from  this  time  he  was  in  the  battle  of  Hanging 


ANDREW   JACKSON.  233 

Rock.  It  was  probably  before  he  and  his  brother  Robert  had 
both  enlisted.  Soon  after,  when  a  company  of  some  forty  of 
the  Waxhaw  patriots  were  making  their  headquarters  in  the 
meeting-house,  they  were  deceived  by  a  band  of  tories  who  led 
behind  them^a  company  of  British  soldiers.  The  tories  came  as 
friends,  and  by  this  strategem  the  patriots  were  taken  by  sur- 
prise. The  two  Jackson  boys  were  in  the  company  surprised, 
but  with  several  others  escaped  to  the  woods.  The  next  day, 
however,  while  in  at  a  neighbor's  house  eating  a  hasty  meal, 
they  were  broken  in  upon  by  a  party  of  British  dragoons,  and 
taken  prisoners. 

After  being  put  under  guard,  Andrew  was  imperiously 
ordered  by  a  British  officer  to  clean  his  boots.  "  I  am  a  prisoner 
of  war,  and  not  your  servant/'  replied  the  dauntless  boy.  The 
brutal  officer  drew  his  sword  and  aimed  a  desperate  blow  at  the 
head  of  the  young  soldier.  He  threw  up  his  hand  and  parried 
the  blow  in  part,  yet  he  received  two  fearful  cuts,  one  in  his 
hand  and  one  on  his  head.  The  mark  of  the  wound  in  the 
hand  he  carried  through  life.  The  officer  then  made  the  same 
request  of  Robert,  and  met  with  a  similar  refusal,  and  gave  him 
a  like  blow  which  so  wounded  him  as  to  cause  his  death  not  long 
after. 

The  wounded  boys,  with  the  re'st  of  the  prisoners,  were 
marched  off  to  Camden,  South  Carolina.  They  were  hurried 
through  without  food  or  drink,  a  distance  of  forty  miles ; 
thrown  into  a  contracted  enclosure  without  beds,  medical 
attendance,  or  any  means  of  dressing  their  wounds.  They  were 
shortly  fed  and  badly  treated.  In  a  few  days  the  virulent  small- 
pox broke  out.  The  dying  and  the  dead  were  all  together.  Mrs. 
Jackson,  hearing  of  the  suffering  of  her  boys,  hastened  to  their 
relief.  She  succeeded  in  obtaining  the  release  of  her  sons  by  an 
exchange  of  prisoners.  Obtaining  two  horses,  she  put  Robert, 
who  could  scarcely  stand,  upon  one;  she  rode  the  other,  and 
Andrew,  half -famished,  bare-headed,  bare-footed,  and  in  rags, 
walked  in  pain  and  toil  the  weary  forty  miles,  suffering  the  first 
stages  of  the  small-pox  all  the  way.  A  heavy  rain,  which  they 
could  not  avoid,  impeded  and  endangered  them  all  the  more. 


234  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

At  length  the  home  was  reached,  and  the  boys,  raging  sick  of 
small-pox,  under  the  weary  mother's  care.  Robert  died  in  two 
days,  and  Andrew  was  soon  wild  in  delirium.  After  a  long 
struggle  with  the  loathsome  disease,  he  recovered. 

As  soon  as  she  could  leave  him,  she  hastened  to  Charleston 
to  care  for  the  sick  prisoners  there,  among  whom  were  her  sis- 
ter's sons,  but  in  her  mission  of  mercy  was  attacked  with  a 
severe  sickness,  died,  and  was  buried  so  obscurely  that  her  grave 
has  never  been  found. 

Thus  in  the  fifteenth  year  of  his  age  Andrew  was  left  alone 
in  the  world,  with  his  mother  and  two  brothers  taken  from  him 
by  the  brutal  barbarity  of  the  British  soldiery.  Is  it  any 
wonder  that  a  nature  like  his  became  ferocious  and  furious  when 
aroused  ?  Is  it  any  wonder  that  such  a  schooling  carried  its 
hard  lessons  deep  into  his  strong  and  passionate  nature  ?  Bar- 
barous war,  thy  cruelties  belong  to  demons  rather  than  men  ! 

JACKSON   THE   YOUTH. 

Andrew  Jackson  was  now  a  mere  youth,  overgrown,  not 
firm  in  health,  coarse,  wild,  reckless.  About  this  time  he 
attempted  to  learn  the  saddler's  trade,  and  worked  at  it  for  six 
months,  but  he  was  better  at  his  games,  sports  and  reckless 
ways  than  at  his  work,  and  gave  it  up. 

While  the  British  occupied  Charleston,  many  of  the  inhabi- 
tants found  homes  in  country  places,  and  some  of  them  in  the 
Waxhaw  settlement.  Among  these  were  some  youth  that 
became  the  associates  of  young  Jackson,  and  of  whom  he  learned 
city  ways  of  dissipation  and  gambling.  When  they  returned 
to  their  homes  he  went  with  them,  riding  his  fine  horse,  which 
he  had  got  of  the  little  property  left  him.  He  soon  ran  up  a 
bill  at  the  tavern;  the  city  attractions  used  up  all  his  money. 
Strolling,  one  evening,  into  a  gambling  place,  he  was  challenged 
to  stake  his  horse  against  two  hundred  dollars.  He  accepted 
the  challenge  and  won  in  the  game.  Putting  his  money  in  his 
pocket  and  resisting  further  invitations  to  play,  with  the  iron 
will  which  always  constituted  such  a  strong  element  of  his 
character,  he  bade  his  companions  good  evening  and  went  to 


ANDKEW   JACKSON.  235 

his  room  and  bed.  He  saw  his  way  out  of  the  poverty  and  dis- 
grace which  would  soon  be  upon  him  if  he  staid  in  the  city,  and 
so,  early  in  the  morning,  he  paid  his  bill,  mounted  his  horse 
and  rode  toward  Waxhaw. 

On  his  return  he  set  up  for  a  schoolmaster.  In  a  log  school- 
house,  with  a  few  children,  he  tried  the  art  of  imparting 
knowledge  to  the  young  mind.  But  his  tastes  were  more  with 
his  wild  companions  than  with  his  scholars,  and  this  was  given 
up  for  the  study  of  law.  Like  many  another,  he  made  teaching 
the  stepping  stone  to  a  profession;  but  in  his  case  it  was  a  thin 
stone.  He  gathered  up  what  means  he  had,  mounted  his  horse, 
and  went  to  Salisbury,  North  Carolina,  a  distance  of  seventy- 
five  miles,  and  entered  the  law  office  of  a  Mr.  McCay. 

At  eighteen  years  old  he  was  better  skilled  in  the  ways  of  his 
hard,  rough  companions  than  in  anything  else.  He  remained 
two  years  in  this  office,  studying  some,  but  frolicking  more.  One 
biographer  says  of  him  :  "He  was  the  most  roaring,  rollicking, 
game-cocking,  horse-racing,  card-playing,  mischievous  fellow 
that  ever  lived  in  Salisbury." 

At  twenty  years  old,  six  feet  and  one  inch  in  his  stockings, 
slender,  graceful  in  his  movements  and  manners,  when  he  chose 
to  be,  fond  of  horses,  riding,  rough  adventures,  developing  some 
manly  and  dignified  qualities  in  the  midst  of,  generally,  pro- 
fane and  coarse  ways. 

He  was  now  a  lawyer,  but  without  books,  office  or  clients. 
There  seemed  to  be  no  business  for  him  where  he  had  studied;  so  he 
rode  to  Martinsville,  North  Carolina,  where  he  spent  a  year  as  a 
clerk  in  a  store,  waiting  for  some  opening  in  the  line  of  his 
profession. 

North  Carolina,  at  that  time,  extended  west  to  the  Missis- 
sippi river.  It  was  a 'long,  wild  tract  of  country  west  of  the 
mountains,  ravaged  by  Indians,  who  had  become  hostile  and 
bitter  toward  the  whites.  It  is  now  the  State  of  Tennessee. 
North  Carolina  afterward  ceded  it  to  Congress,  and  Congress  at 
length  made  it  into  a  state. 

At  the  time  Jackson  was  at  Martinsville,  there  was  a  settle- 
ment a  little  west  of  the  mountains,  called  Jonesborough; 


236  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

five  hundred  miles  west  of  the  summit  of  the  mountains  was 
another,  called  Nashville.  All  else  was  Avilderness  and  the  home 
of  Indians  and  wild  beasts. 

Andrew  Jackson,  when  twenty-one  years  old,  was  appointed 
•public  prosecutor  for  the  district  of  Nashville.  It  was  an  office 
without  honor,  with  but  little  pay,  and  hazardous  in  the  extreme. 
Few  men  that  had  anything  else  to  do  would  accept  it.  It  was 
Jackson's  only  opportunity. 

At  that  time  there  was  gathering  at  Morgantown,  the  frontier 
settlement  of  North  Carolina,  a  company  of  emigrants  for  the 
wild  country  of  the  west.  Jackson  joined  this  company.  They 
were  mounted  on  horseback,  and  carried  all  their  goods  and 
luggage  on  pack  horses.  They  followed  an  Indian  trail  in  a 
long  cavalcade,  camping  at  night  in  the  open  air,  stationing 
pickets  about  to  give  warning  of  the  approach  of  Indians.  A 
few  days'  journey  took  them  to  Jonesborough,  a  village  of  about 
sixty  log  huts.  Beyond  this  all  was  wilderness  for  two  hundred 
miles,  to  Nashville,  the  western  limit  of  settlement.  At  Jones- 
borough  they  waited  for  several  days  the  arrival  of  other  parties 
of  emigrants,  and  for  a  guard  from  Nashville  to  escort  them. 
Something  like  one  hundred  men,  women  and  children  were  in 
the  company. 

The  second  night  out,  after  the  women  and  children  were  all 
asleep  in  their  tents,  and  the  men  wrapped  in  their  blankets  by 
the  side  of  the  fire,  Andrew  Jackson  sat  up,  quietly  musing, 
when  he  heard  now  and  then  unusual  noises.  He  listened,  and 
soon  became  convinced  that  there  were  Indians  about  them. 
He  crept  to  the  nearest  men  and  awakened  them.  Soon  the 
whole  company  was  awake,  and  moved  on  toward  Nashville  as 
fast  as  possible.  An  hour  afterward  a  party  of  hunters  came  in 
sight  of  the  fires,  and  gathered  about  them  and  went  to  sleep. 
Before  daylight  the  Indians  sprang  upon  them  and  killed  all 
but  one. 

The  emigrants  reached  Nashville  the  last  of  October,  1788. 
These  emigrants  carried  the  news  of  the  adoption  of  the  new 
constitution,  and  that  Washington  would  probably  be  chosen 
the  first  executive  of  the  new  government.  This  outpost  of 


ANDREW   JACKSON".  237 

civilization  felt  the  joy  of  an  organized  government  under  the 
paternal  administration  of  Washington,  and  anticipated  the 
time  when  the  long  reaches  of  the  great  wilderness  between 
them  and  their  friends  in  the  East  would  be  settled  with  thriv- 
ing communities.  It  was  estimated  that  there  were  in  and 
about  Nashville  some  five  thousand  people,  clearing  up  the 
wilderness  and  planting  homes.  The  dangers  from  the  Indians 
were  great  and  constant.  Men  carried  their  rifles  wherever 
they  went.  Stockades  were  made  for  all  the  people  to  flee  to  in 
case  of  an  attack. 

JACKSON   THE   LAWYER. 

Jackson  soon  determined  to  make  Nashville  his  home.  There 
was  but  one  lawyer  there  before  him,  and  he  had  fallen  into  the 
hands  of  the  roughs  and  the  delinquents  to  the  merchants  and 
land  owners,  and  defended  them.  He  set  up  an  office,  and  at 
once  had  an  immense  amount  of  collections  put  into  his  hands. 
He  made  out  some  seventy  writs  the  first  day.  The  merchants 
and  land  owners  had  been  unable  to  force  their  claims,  and 
they  welcomed  a  new  lawyer.  The  roughs  sought  to  intimidate 
and  drive  him  out  of  the  place,  but  his  imperious  will  and  fiery 
temper  soon  taught  them  that  such  a  course  only  endangered 
them.  He  never  shunned  a  fight;  often  had  personal  encoun- 
ters; was  fierce  and  fearless,  wiry  and  powerful,  and  withal,  so 
much  of  a  man  that  he  was  not  long  in  conquering  a  victory, 
and  forcing  the  respect  of  the  delinquents  and  bellicose  men  of 
that  hitherto  lawless  community. 

With  his  energy  and  push,  and  the  monied  portion  of  the 
community  as  his  clients,  his  business  flourished.  His  official 
business  as  prosecutor  took  him  frequently  to  Jonesborough 
and  other  settlements  far  apart,  which  journeys  he  made  on 
horseback,  and  with  constant  danger  from  the  Indians,  and 
exposure  to  storms  and  floods. 

When  he  first  went  to  Nashville,  he  found  a  boarding,  place 
with  a  Mrs.  Donelson.  She  was  the  widow  of  Colonel  John 
Donelson,  and  was  much  respected.  She  lived  in  a  cabin  of 
hewn  logs,  which  was  then  the  aristocratic  style  of  a  house.  She 


238  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

had  a  married  daughter,  Mrs.  Robards,  the  wife  of  Lewis  Rob- 
ards, of  Kentucky,  and  her  husband  living  with  her.  Their 
marriage  relation  was  not  happy.  He  is  said  to  have  been  a  man 
of  whom  not  much  good  could  be  said.  His  wife  was  beautiful, 
sprightly,  a  lover  of  mirth ;  and  a  woman  of  excellent  natural 
ability.  He  was  jealous  of  her,  and  greatly  annoyed  her  by  it ; 
and  once  left  her  for  a  time,  before  Jackson  knew  them.  Now 
that  Jackson  had  come  into  the  family  as  a  boarder,  who  had 
agreeable  manners  with  women,  and  a  fund  of  anecdotes  and 
entertaining  conversation,  Robards  became  jealous  of  him,  and 
made  it  exceedingly  disagreeable  for  him.  He  sought  to  talk 
with  him  about  it;  but  got  only  abuse. 

The  matter  grew  into  a  scandal,  and  Jackson  concluded  to 
leave  the  house;  but  so  uncomfortable  had  Mrs.  Robards  become, 
that  she  determined  to  leave  the  place,  and  go  to  Natches,  into 
the  family  of  Colonel  Stark ;  an  elderly  gentleman  and  friend 
of  the  family. 

The  way  was  dangerous  on  account  of  Indians,  and  Colonel 
Stark  invited  Jackson  to  go  along  as  a  protector,  who  had 
become  known  and  feared  among  the  Indians  as  "Sharp  Knife." 
This  did  not  mend  the  scandal. 

This  was  in  the  spring  of  1791.  Robards  left,  and  applied 
to  the  legislature  of  Virginia  for  a  divorce.  This  was  granted, 
provided  the  supreme  court  should  see  cause  for  a  divorce.  It 
was  reported,  and  became  the  universal  belief  in  Nashville  that 
Robards  had  obtained  a  divorce.  Mrs.  Robards  came  back  in 
the  fall,  and  was  married  to  Jackson.  The  marriage  was  a 
happy  one,  and  gave  them  both  great  joy  through  their  whole 
lives. 

After  they  had  been  married  two  years,  Robards  obtained  a 
divorce  in  a  court  in  Kentucky ;  then  Jackson  saw  that  he  had 
been  married  two  years  to  a  woman  who  was  legally  another 
man's  wife.  To  make  their  union  legal,  they  were  married  again. 

But  happy  as  was  their  marriage,  the  unfortunate  circum- 
stances, the  suspicion  and  the  scandal  always  greatly  marred  their 
peace.  Jackson's  enemies  always  used  it  against  him;  and  many 
of  them,  no  doubt,  believed  that  he  broke  up  a  family  to  get 


ANDREW   JACKSON".  239 

another  man's  wife.  His  past  manner  of  life ;  his  lawlessness 
and  imperiousness,  and  passionate  nature,  did  not  do  much  to 
prove  his  innocence.  But  his  friends  believed  him  every  way 
pure  and  worthy  in  the  whole  transaction.  It  is  worthy  of  note 
that  no  reproach  was  ever  cast  upon  him  for  any  misconduct 
toward  women,  save  this  ;  which  goes  fur  to  prove  him  what  he 
always  seemed  to  be — magnanimous,  just  and  true  to  her. 

While  practicing  law  in  Nashville,  he  soon  began  to  get  hold 
of  land  ;  and  in  a  few  years  became  an  extensive  land  owner. 
This  he  sold  to  settlers  at  advanced  prices,  and  became  wealthy 
for  that  region  of  country.  Loving  agriculture,  he  practiced  it 
more  or  less.  He  was  always  a  careful  business  man,  thrifty, 
efficient,  successful.  With  his  law  business,  his  much  journey- 
ing, his  extensive  land  and  agricultural  business,  he  became  a 
man  of  affairs. 

THE   LEGISLATOR. 

In  January,  1796,  the  territory  of  Tennessee,  then  containing 
nearly  eighty  thousand  inhabitants,  had  ripened  for  admission  into 
the  Union.  A  convention  was  called  at  Knoxville  to  frame  a 
constitution.  Five  delegates  were  sent  from  each  of  the  eleven 
counties.  Andrew  Jackson  was  one  of  the  delegates  from  David- 
son county.  They  met  in  a  shabby  building  outside  of  the  city, 
which  was  prepared  for  the  convention  at  an  expense  of  twelve 
dollars  and  sixty-two  cents.  Each  member  was  entitled  to  two 
dollars  and  a  half  a  day;  but  they  voted  to  give  one  dollar  of  it 
to  pay  the  secretary,  printer  and  doorkeeper,  reserving  only  a 
dollar  and  a  half  a  day  to  themselves.  A  constitution  was 
formed,  and  in  June,  1796,  Tennessee  became  the  sixteenth  state 
in  the  Union. 

The  new  state  could  have  but  one  member  in  the  United 
States  House  of  Eepresentatives.  Jackson  was  elected  to  that 
position,  and  took  his  seat  in  December,  1796.  He  rode  on 
horseback  from  Nashville  to  Philadelphia,  a  distance  of  eight 
hundred  miles.  Albert  Gallatin  thus  describes  him  as  he 
appeared  in  the  house:  "A  tall,  lank,  uncouth-looking  person- 
age, with  locks  of  hair  hanging  over  his  face,  and  &  cue  down 


240  OUE    PRESIDENTS. 

his  back,  tied  with  an  eel-skin,  his  dress  singular,  his  manners 
and  deportment  those  of  a  rough  backwoodsman." 

Mr.  Jackson  took  his  seat  near  the  close  of  General  Wash- 
ington's administration.  He  heard  the  farewell  address  of  "  The 
Father  of  his  Country"  to  his  people.  A  committee  drew  up  a 
complimentary  address  in  reply.  Jackson  was  one  of  twelve  to 
vote  against  that  reply.  He  would  not  say  that  Washington's 
administration  was  "wise,  firm  and  patriotic." 

Jackson  was  an  intense  democrat — a  disciple  of  Jefferson,  an 
admirer  of  Bonaparte,  a  lover  of  France,  a  hater  of  England,  a 
slaveholder  who  saw  no  wrong  in  slavery — nothing  undemocratic 
in  buying  and  selling  men  and  women  and  working  them  for 
their  pretended  owner's  profit;  yet  he  could  vote  in  censure  of 
Washington's  administration. 

Tennessee  had  gone  into  warlike  operations  against  the 
Indians  without  authority,  and  contrary  to  the  policy  of  the 
government.  A  proposition  had  been  made  in  the  House  to 
refund  to  Tennessee  the  expenses  she  had  incurred  in  this  unor- 
dered Indian  expedition.  Jackson  advocated  it  with  great  zeal, 
and  the  proposition  was  supported.  This  made  Jackson  still 
more  popular  in  his  state ;  and  a  vacancy  occurring  the  next 
season,  he  was  elected  United  States  Senator.  But  he  remained 
in  the  position  but  a  little  while,  resigning  in  1798. 

JUDGE  JACKSON. 

Soon  after  his  return  from  the  United  States  Senate,  he  was 
chosen  judge  of  the  supreme  court  of  Tennessee,  at  a  salary  of 
six  hundred  dollars  a  year,  which  office  he  held  for  six  years. 

At  the  time  Jackson  was  a  judge,  John  Sevier  was  governor 
of  the  state.  They  had  had  a  personal  difficulty,  and  Jackson 
had  challenged  him  for  a  duel,  which  Sevier  had  declined.  At 
an  accidental  meeting  in  the  streets  of  Knoxville,  unfriendly 
words  soon  began  to  be  bandied  between  them,  in  which  Jack- 
son spoke  of  his  services  to  the  state.  "Services  !"  rejoined  the 
governor,  "I  know  of  none  but  a  trip  to  Natchez  with  another 
man's  wife."  "Great  God  !"  shouted  Jackson,  "do  you  men- 
tion her  sacred  name?"  and  in  an  instant  drew  a  pistol  and  fired 


ANDREW   JACKSON.  241 

at  the  governor,  and  the  governor  returned  the  shot;  but  in 
their  frenzy,  both  shot  at  random,  and  neither  hurt  each  other 
or  anybody  else,  or  at  all  wounded  their  reputations  as  wise  and 
dignified  and  law-honoring  judge  and  governor.  Meeting  soon 
after  on  a  highway,  when  Doctor  Vandyke  was  with  Jack- 
son, he  drew  a  pistol  and  called  to  the  governor  to  defend 
himself.  The  governor  leaped  from  his  horse,  and  the  animal, 
in  self  defense,  took  to  his  heels.  His  son,  who  was  with  him, 
drew  his  pistol ;  Vandyke  drew  his.  In  this  war-like  Attitude, 
some  travelers  came  up  and  put  a  stop  to  the  fray. 

This  standing  quarrel  between  judge  and  governor,  broke 
out  anew  whenever  they  met,  and  involved  many  of  their  friends 
in  it.  Neither  of  them  seemed  to  see  that  it  reflected  on  the 
dignity  of  their  official  standing.  In  1804,  he  resigned  his 
judgeship. 

BUSINESS  EMBARRASSMENTS.  • 

In  his  land  speculations,  and  mercantile  and  produce  busi- 
ness, he  became  financially  involved.  He  had  sold  land  jfco  a 
Philadelphia!!  who  had  failed  and  could  not  pay  him.  His 
partners  had  made  mistakes  and  involved  the  firm.  He  sold 
property,  paid  all,  and  began  again,  in  a  smaller  and  sa*fer  way. 
His  business  difficulties  came  through  others'  mistakes,  not 
his  own. 

PERSONAL   COMPLICATIONS. 

i 

Early  in  1806,  Jackson  got  into  a  difficulty  with  Mr.  Charles 
Dickinson,  a  young  lawyer,  who  was  also  engaged  in  trade.  It 
grew  out  of  something  that  Dickinson  had  said  disparaging  of 
Mrs.  Jackson.  He  had  explained  the  words,  and  the  offense  was 
smothered. 

Soon  after,  at  a  horse-race,  where  his  favorite  horse  was  to 
run  on  a  stake  of  two  thousand  dollars,  he  got  into  an  alterca- 
tion with  a  young  man  by  the  name  of  Swann.  Swann  chal- 
lenged him  for  a  duel,  but  he  refused  to  accept  it,  on  the  ground 
that  Swann  was  not  a  gentleman;  but  he  beat  him  with  a 
bludgeon,  a  disgraceful  affair  in  the  dueling  code.  This  led  the 
way  to  a  revival  of  the  Dickinson  trouble,  as  he  had  been 
16 


242  CUB   PBESIDEJTTS. 

referred  to  by  Swann,  and  a  duel  was  brought  on  with  Dickinson. 
Dickinson  was  regarded  as  the  best  shot  in  the  world, —  could, 
at  the  distance  they  were  to  stand  apart,  hit  a  dollar  every  shot. 
He  was  a  brilliant  young  man,  and  very  popular.  The  distance 
was  eight  paces.  Dickinson  fired  at  the  word,  and  struck  a  rib 
near  the  breast  bone,  breaking  it,  but  turning  the  ball  so  it  only 
inflicted  a  fearful  wound,  but  did  not  enter  his  vitals.  Jackson 
gave  no  sign  of  being  hit,  and  Dickinson  exclaimed,  "Good 
God!  have  I  missed  him?"  Jackson  then  fired  with  deliberate 
aim,  and  shot  his  antagonist  through,  who  died  that  night, 
without  knowing  that  he  had  hit  Jackson. 

This  duel,  so  needless,  cutting  down  a  young  husband,  and 
man  of  many  friends,  hurt  Jackson's  popularity,  till  he  retrieved 
it  with  his  mititary  successes. 

In  1805  Aaron  Burr  visited  Jackson  in  the  interest  of  his 
contemplated  expedition  in  the  southwest.  Jackson  fell  readily 
into  his  blandishments,  and  entered  into  his  project  arranging 
to  furnish  men  and  boats.  He  proposed  to  conquer  the  Spanish 
dominions,  and  it  is  believed  he  secretly  intended  to  establish  a 
separate  government  making  the  seat  of  it  on  the  Red  river 
where  he  purchased  four  hundred  thousand  acres  of  land.  But 
Jackson's  suspicions  of  his  integrity  were  soon  aroused  and  he 
withdrew  from  all  connection  with  him.  Burr  was  afterward 
tried  for  high  treason,  but  the  charge  was  not  sustained.  At 
Burr's  tial  in  Richmond,  Virginia,  Jackson  was  summoned  as  a 
witness.  He  championed  Burr's  cause.  Mr.  Parton,  one  of 
his  biographers,  says:  "There  he  harangued  the  crowd  in  the 
capitol  square,  defending  Burr  and  denouncing  Jefferson  as  a 
persecutor.  There  are  those  living  (in  1859)  who  heard  him  do 
this.  He  made  himself  so  conspicuous  as  Burr's  champion  at 
Richmond,  that  Mr.  Madison,  secretary  of  state,  took  deep 
offense  at  it,  and  remembered  it  to  Jackson's  disadvantage  five 
years  later,  when  he  was  president  of  the  United  States,  with  a 
war  on  his  hands.  For  the  same  reason,  I  presume,  it  was  that 
Jackson  was  not  called  upon  to  give  testimony  upon  the  trial." 

After  this  time  he  lived  for  some  years  in  private  life  at  the 
Hermitage,  the  name  of  his  home.  But,  as  was  so  common 


ANDKEW  JACKSON.  243 

with  him;  he  had  his  troubles  with  various  parties,  among  them 
"an  animated  quarrel  with  Mr.  Dinsmore,  agent  of  the  Choc- 
taw  Indians." 

GENEKAL   JACKSON. 

Jackson  had  now  been  general  of  the  militia  for  some  years. 
In  1812  when  the  war  with  England  broke  out  he  offered  his 
services  to  the  government  with  two  thousand  five  hundred  men 
of  his  division  of  the  Tennessee  militia.  His  offer  was  accepted. 
In  October  Governor  Blount  of  Tennessee  was  asked  to  send 
one  thousand  five  hundred  men  to  New  Orleans.  Jackson 
called  for  a  meeting  of  troops  at  Nashville,  December  10.  A 
force  of  infantry  and  cavalry  met  and  was  organized  amounting 
to  two  thousand  and  seventy  men.  On  January  7,  1813,  the 
infantry  embarked  in  boats  for  Natchez,  and  the  cavalry 
marched  across  the  country. 

No  use  .was  made  of  this  force,  and  in  the  spring  it  returned 
to  Nashville.  The  General  offered  it  for  an  invasion  of  Canada, 
but  no  answer  was  received  from  Washington  and  it  was  dis- 
banded. 

While  on  the  march  from  Natchez  to  Nashville  the  soldiers 
called  their  general  "Hickory"  on  account  of  his  toughness. 
In  later  years  he  was  called  Old  Hickory,  and  hickory  poles  and 
trees  abounded  in  his  campaigns  for  the  presidency,  and  at  the 
celebrations  of  his  victory  at  New  Orleans.  So  identified  did 
he  become  with  this  symbol  of  his  toughness,  that  an  old  man 
who  was  a  democratic  boy  in  his  time,  cannot  see  a  hickory  tree 
without  being  reminded  of  Jackson.  The  hickory  was  one  of 
the  means  of  his  popularity.  The  woodsmen  over  the  whole 
country  took  to  him  on  this  account. 

In  1813,  Jackson's  friend,  who  afterward  became  General 
Carroll,  got  involved  in  a  quarrel  with  Jesse  Benton,  a  brother 
of  Thomas  H.  Benton,  and  was  challenged  for  a  duel.  Carroll 
asked  Jackson  to  be  his  second.  Jackson  prevented  the  duel 
for  awhile,  but  Benton  was  bound  to  have  it  out  according  to 
the  code  of  honor's  barbarity.  Benton  sent  an  account  of  it  to 
his  brother  at  Washington.  This  led  to  an  angry  correspond- 


244  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

ence  between  Colonel  Benton  and  Jackson.  Jackson  threat- 
ened to  horsewhip  him  at  their  first  meeting.  They  met  in  a 
street  in  Nashville,  September  4.  Jackson  advanced  upon  him. 
Benton  retreated  backward  till  he  stumbled  doAvn  the  stairway 
of  a  hotel.  Just  at  this  moment  Jesse  Benton  fired  at  Jackson 
a  pistol  loaded  with  two  balls  and  a  slug,  shattering  his  shoulder 
and  bringing  him  to  the  ground.  A  general  melee  among  the 
friends  of  both  followed  in  which  several  were  hurt,  but  none 
killed.  All  the  doctors  but  one  recommended  the  amputation 
of  the  shattered  arm.  But  Jackson  would  not  consent  to  it, 
and  in  due  time  it  become  a  useful  arm. 

On  the  thirtieth  of  August,  1813,  the  massacre  of  Fort 
Mimms,  by  the  Creek  Indians,  created  a  great  excitement 
throughout  the  southwest.  Jackson,  from  his  bed,  addressed 
circulars  to  all  who  would  arm  themselves  to  punish  the  Indians, 
to  meet  at  Fort  Stephens.  On  the  twenty-fifth  of  September 
the  legislature  of  Tennessee  called  for  three  thousand  five 
hundred  volunteers,  besides  the  one  thousand  five  hundred  that 
were  in  the  national  service.  Still  suffering  from  his  wound, 
Jackson  met  and  took  command  of  this  force  October  7.  On 
the  eleventh  he  moved  rapidly  toward  the  Indian's  center  of 
operation.  After  two  or  three  severe  battles  with  the  Indians 
which  severely  punished  them,  the  half-fed  army  became 
mutinous,  and  many  went  home.  Some  new  recruits  came  in, 
some  friendly  Indians  joined  him,  and  with  such  an  army  as  he 
had,  he  plunged  into  the  midst  of  the  Indian  territory.  After 
two  or  three  successful  battles  in  January,  troops  began  to  come 
to  him.  In  February  he  had  five  thousand  men.  He  followed 
and  attacked  the  Indians  in  their  own  strongholds  in  such  rapid 
succession  that  by  midsummer  they  were  completely  conquered, 
their  chief  surrendered,  and  he  made  a  treaty  with  them  by 
which  the  most  of  them  left  the  country  and  went  north.  A  few 
fled  to  Florida.  So  thorough  was  his  work,  that  it  is  said  to 
have  broken  the  power  of  the  Indians  in  North  America. 

This  gave  General  Jackson  a  national  reputation.  Occurring 
at  the  time  the  country  was  at  war  with  England,  and  perhaps 
an  Indian  outbreak  which  the  English  had  incited,  it  made  him 


ANDREW   JACKSON.  245 

a  hero,  even  more  than  it  would  to  have  gained  a  victory  over 
so  many  English  soldiers. 

In  May,  1814,  General  Jackson  was  major-general  of  the 
United  States  army  in  the  southwest  over  six  other  generals 
who  had  claims  to  the  position. 

The  English  were  preparing  for  a  grand  attack  on  the  south- 
west in  July.  General  Jackson  pushed  forward  to  Mobile  to 
hinder  as  much  as  possible  their  operations  in  that  quarter. 
They  had  possession  of  Pensacola  in  Spanish  territory,  which 
they  used  as  though  it  were  their  own.  Jackson  wrote  for 
orders,  but  getting  no  answer  moved  against  it  with  three 
thousand  men  and  cleaned  it  of  British  war  force  and  materials. 
He  sent  a  force  against  the  Florida  Indians  with  equal  success. 
He  was  soon  back  to  Mobile  in  force;  but  finding  he  had  swept 
that  region  clear  of  the  enemy,  he  sent  the  mass  of  his  army  to 
New  Orleans,  and  reached  that  place  himself  December  2,  1814. 

On  December  14,  a  powerful  British  naval  force  came  up  the 
river  and  captured  several  gunboats  and  a  schooner.  The  next 
day  Jackson  proclaimed  martial  law  in  New  Orleans.  On  the 
morning  of  the  twenty-third  the  advance  of  the  British  army 
came  within  nine  miles  of  New  Orleans.  At  two  o'clock  that 
afternoon,  with  a  little  over  two  thousand  men,  Jackson 
attacked  the  enemy.  A  severe  battle  ensued,  aided  by  Lieutenant 
Henly  in  the  school) er  Carolina.  This  battle  gave  the  British 
warning  of  the  welcome  they  might  expect  when  they  went 
nearer  the  city. 

That  night  the  British  were  heavily  reinforced,  and  had  an 
army  of  trained  soldiers  and  marines  of  fourteen  thousand 
effective  men  armed  and  supplied  according  to  the  best  art  of 
war  at  that  time.  This  is  the  highest  estimate.  Their  own 
writers  have  put  their  force  as  low  as  eight  thousand.  To 
oppose  this  force  Jackson  had  a  force  of  less  than  four  thousand, 
composed  of  Kentucky,  Tennessee  and  Louisiana  militia,  with  a 
few  regulars.  He  had  two  sloops  of  war  in  the  river  and  one 
colored  battalion. 

After  the  battle  of  the  twenty-third  of  December,  Jackson 
fell  back  to  within  four  miles  of  the  city,  and  began  to  throw  up 


246  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

an  embankment  from  the  river  back  to  the  swamps,  a  distance 
of  more  than  a  mile.  He  employed  every  available  force  of  men 
and  boys,  to  complete  his  line 'of  defense  as  soon  as  possible. 
He  could  dig  only  about  three  feet  before  coming  to  water.  He 
filled  his  poorly  equipped  and  raw  soldiers,  who  were  there  for 
the  defense  of  their  homes  and  country,  with  the  spirit  and 
power  of  heroes.  They  were  there  a  wall  of  defense  to  save  the 
city  and  the  country  behind  it.  The  caution  of  General  Pack- 
enham,  the  British  commander,  kept  him  bringing  up  reinforce- 
ments and  making  preparations  till  the  twenty-eighth.  On  that 
day  he  came  on,  confident  and  strong,  with  his  battalions  that 
believed  themselves  invincible.  Steadily,  solidly,  with  bands 
playing,  banners  flying,  swords  and  bayonets  glistening,  they 
marched  upon  the  line  of  the  American  defense.  The  artillery 
led,  and  opened  the  attack.  The  Americans  waited  till  the 
British  column  was  within  easy  gun  shot,  and  then  opened  on  it 
to  give  it  no  quarter  till  it  was  swept  away  as  though  it  were  of 
gossamer.  Two  hours  of  steady  cannonade  and  musketry  work 
sent  the  shattered  British  columns  back  in  confusion,  leaving 
the  field  strewn  with  the  dead  and  dying. 

They  retreated  two  miles  and  encamped.  They  began  at 
once  to  repair  their  losses.  From  their  ships  they  brought  more 
cannon  and  marines.  On  the  night  of  the  thirty-first,  which 
was  very  dark,  they  moved  forward  to  within  three  hundred 
yards  of  the  American  line  and  under  cover  of  a  heavy  cannon- 
ade, began  to  dig  for  protection  against  the  American  fire  in  the 
morning.  The  next  morning  was  Sunday.  A  dense  fog  shut 
everything  from  sight,  till  about  ten  o'clock  it  lifted,  revealing 
the  pageantry  of  grim  war  covering  all  the  plains.  The  batteries 
at  once  opened;  the  British  columns  moved  forward  and  opened 
fire.  The  air  was  perfectly  still,  and  soon  dense  with  smoke; 
but  Jackson's  men  knew  the  range  and  fired  continuously  into  the 
fast  falling  ranks  of  their  enemy.  It  was  a  short  work.  The 
British  fled  to  their  entrenchments  and  ceased  firing.  For  this 
battle  cotton  bales  had  been  brought  for  better  protection,  but 
they  did  not  serve  the. purpose,  and  were  abandoned. 

Three  times  now  the  enemy  had  been  beaten  back.     What 


ANDREW   JACKSON.  247 

would  he  do  next?  He  had  immense  resources,  and  England's 
best  military  talent  and  skill  to  use  them.  The  people  of  the 
city  and  our  army  were  in  intense  anxiety.  That  thin  wall  of 
human  flesh  and  blood,  with  the  mighty  will  of  Andrew  Jackson, 
was  all  that  stood  in  the  way  of  destruction.  Every  preparation 
to  receive  the  next  shock,  which  could  be  made,  was  adopted. 

Sunday  morning,  January  8,about  half  an  hour  before  sun- 
rise, the  hostile  line  began  to  move  again.  Intrepid  and  firm 
stood  Jackson  and  his  men  in  their  places.  The  battle  array 
had  now  stretched  across  the  river,  and  Jackson  had  to  provide 
an  additional  force  for  that  side. 

The  enemy  came  on  steady  and  resolute;  now  for  the  fourth 
time,  only  to  fall  in  almost  whole  regiments  before  the  deadly 
fire  of  Jackson's  men.  Two  hours  of  such  work  sent  them 
flying  back,  with  Packenham,  their  leader,  dead  on  the  field, 
General  Gibbs  mortally  wounded,  and  General  Keane  severely 
wounded.  They  rallied  again;  but  it  was  only  the  effort  of  an 
exhausted  and  beaten  army.  So  was  fought  and  won  the  great 
battle  of  New  Orleans.  Nothing  more  courageous  and  decisive 
had  been  done  on  this  continent.  With  everything  against  him, 
and  double  the  number  of  his  OAVU  men  at  least,  and  trained 
soldiers  against  raw  recruits,  he  held  England's  pride  and  power 
at  bay  for  two  weeks  and  then  sent  them  away  shattered  and 
beaten. 

They  remained  ten  days  in  their  encampments,  then  stole 
away  to  their  ships  and  departed. 

General  Jackson  now  became  the  hero  of  the  American 
people ;  he  had  settled  with  the  Indians ;  had  saved  New 
Orleans;  had  won  imperishable  honors  for  American  arms;  had 
sent  England's  last  army  back  in  disgrace  from  our  shores.  His 
faults,  vices  and  crimes  were  now  forgotten.  His  savage  tem- 
per, foul  speech  and  barbaric  will  all  grew  virtuous  in  the  white 
glory  of  this  great  victory.  For  the  time  being  the  common 
people  were  mad  with  delight,  and  were  ready  to  canonize  Jack- 
son and  hold  him  the  paragon  of  all  virtues.  They  have  at  last 
come  to  see  him  as  a  craggy  mountain,  rough,  stormy,  bold 


248  OUE   PRESIDENTS. 

with  great  defiles,  dark  recesses  and  jutting  points,  yet  solid 
and  grand  in  strength. 

General  Jackson  had  his  troubles  at  New  Orleans  with  citi- 
zens. His  enemies  were  severe  on  him  for  establishing  martial 
law.  He  had  one  man  arrested  and  imprisoned.  The  judge 
set  him  at  liberty  on  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus;  then  Jackson 
banished  the  judge  from  the  city.  The  news  of  the  treaty  of 
Ghent  and  peace  came  right  on;  then  the  judge  returned  and 
fined  Jackson  a  thousand  dollars.  The  people  wanted  to  pay  it, 
but  he  would  not  permit  it.  Years  after,  it,  with  interest,  was 
refunded  to  him  by  Congress. 

But  not  to  Jackson  alone  was  due  the  victory  over  the 
Indians  and  British.  The  people  of  Tennessee,  Kentucky, 
Louisiana,  and  the  whole  southwest,  were  joined  with  him,  and 
are  to  be  accorded  their  full  share  in  the  struggle,  patriotism 
and  glory  of  the  great  consummation. 

General  Jackson  retired  to  the  Hermitage,  near  Nashville, 
but  to  remain  but  a  little  while.  Near  the  close  of  the  next 
year  (1817)  the  Seminole  Indians  in  Florida  were  on  the  war 
path.  General  Jackson  was  ordered  to  take  the  field  against 
them.  He  gathered  a  large  force  of  regulars,  Creek  Indians 
and  militia  of  Tennessee  and  Georgia.  He  went  into  Florida 
while  it  was  yet  a  Spanish  territory,  took  Fort  St.  Marks,  where 
he  captured  a  Scotchman  named  Arbuthnot,  and  at  Suwanee 
captured  one  Ambrister.  Both  these  were  British  subjects.  He 
tried  them  by  court  martial,  found  them  guilty  of  inciting  the 
Indians  against  the  United  States,  and  had  them  executed. 
Two  Indian  chiefs  were  hanged  by  his  order.  He  continued  his 
march,  and  took  Pensacola.  The  Spanish  authorities  com- 
plained. The  country  was  divided  on  the  subject  of  his  inva-" 
sion  of  Spanish  territory;  some  condemning,  some  approving, 
his  course.  The  secretary  of  state,  John  Quincy  Adams, 
approved  it. 

In  1821,  when  Spain  ceded  Florida  to  the  United  States, 
Jackson  was  appointed  governor  of  the  territory,  but  he  held 
the  office  but  a  little  while.  President  Monroe  offered  him  the 
post  of  minister  to  Mexico,  which  he  did  not  accept. 


ANDREW   JACKSON.  249 

In  1823  the  Tennessee  legislature  elected  him  to  the  United 
States  Senate,  and  nominated  him  for  the  presidency.  This 
nomination  was  treated  as  a  joke  by  many,  so  unfit  did  they 
regard  him  for  that  place.  But  in  the  ensuing  presidential 
election,  in  1824,  he  received  ninety-nine  electoral  votes;  but, 
as  there  was  no  choice  by  the  electors,  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives elected  John  Quincy  Adams.  He  retired  again  to  the 
Hermitage;  but  at  the  next  presidential  election  the  entire 
opposition  to  Adams  united  on  Jackson,  and  he  was  elected. 

PRESIDENT  JACKSON. 

The  political  and  sectional  contest  which  .elected  Jackson 
was  a  severe  one.  The  opposition  to  Adams  was  chiefly  a  sec- 
tional one.  He  was  a  northern  man;  was  personally  opposed  to 
slavery;  his  father  was  a  federalist,  and  he  was  elected  by  a 
federalist  district. .  Though  non-partisan  and  a  most  just  and 
wise  president,  he  did  not  suit  partisans  or  sectionalists.  Both 
wanted  more  influence  in  the  government  than  they  could  get 
under  him.  Jackson  was  a  democrat  of  the  radical  type.  The 
slave  states  were  democratic  in  theory,  though  autocratic  in 
practice  toward  Africans;  Jackson  was  a  democrat  and  a  slave 
holder;  so,  as  a  democrat  and  a  slave  holder,  he  suited  the 
southern  section  of  the  country. 

He  was  very  bitterly  opposed.  All  his  strong  peculiarities  ; 
his  hot  temper ;  his  irresistible  will;  his  quarrels  and  duels;  his 
marrying  another  man's  wife ;  his  lack  of  an  education ;  his 
ignorance  as  a  civilian  —  all  were  used  against  him  to  make  the 
contest  personal,  sharp  and  severe.  There  were  no  principles 
involved  that  it  did  the  people  good  to  consider  and  discuss. 
There  were  no  measures  before  the  people  which  related  to  good 
government  and  the  improvement  of  the  country.  The  whole 
contest  was  personal,  partisan  and  sectional,  educating  the  peo- 
ple only  in  things  harmful  and  belittling. 

Before  General  Jackson  was  inaugurated  president,  his  wife 
sickened  and  died.  It  was  said  at  the  time  that  the  public 
recital  of  all  her  marriage  troubles,  hastened  her  death.  It  was 
a  heavy  blow  to  her  most  loyal  and  devoted  husband.  Few  men 


250  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

were  ever  more  genuinely  married  to  a  woman  than  was  Jackson 
to  her.  Her  happiness  was  his  pleasure.  His  imperious  nature 
was  lamb-like  in  her  presence.  To  her  he  was  gentle,  patient, 
self-forgetful.  This  manly  devotion  to  his  wife  through  all 
their  years  together,  was  the  most  redeeming  and  honorable 
trait  in  his  character.  It  opens  into  green  fields  and  blooming 
gardens  in  his  soul  which  the  world  knew  but  little  of.  It  indi- 
cated a  greatness  far  surpassing  any  other  he  ever  exhibited. 

March  4,  1829,  Andrew  Jackson  began  a  Jacksonian  admin- 
istration. It  was  like  everything  else  he  did,  peculiar,  positive, 
imperious.  In  two  years  he  made  an  entire  new  cabinet ;  said 
to  have  been  brought  about  by  a  scandal  relating  to  Mrs.  Eaton, 
the  wife  of  his  secretary  of  war.  The  other  ladies  of  his  court 
did  not  fancy  Mrs.  Eaton.  She  was  the  wife  of  his  friend  and 
he  was  bound  to  sustain  her.  But  probably  the  dislike  of  Cal- 
houn  and  his  friends  had  something  to  do  with  it  also. 

In  1832  Congress  rechartered  the  national  bank,  through 
which  the  national  finances  had  been  conducted  and  in  which 
the  national  deposits  were  made.  The  president  vetoed  the  bill. 
This  created  great  alarm  among  monied  men  and  an  immense 
excitement.  It  struck  at  the  center  of  business  and  portended 
commercial  disaster.  He  made  many  removals  from  office  on 
partisan  grounds  and  filled  their  places  with  his  friends.  And 
this  made  the  more  comment  as  he  had  approved  Mr.  Monroe's 
non-partisan  appointments.  Up  to  this  time  all  presidents  had 
respected  the  rights  of  the  minorfty  and  been  presidents  of  the 
whole  'people.  He  instituted  the  new  order  of  "to  the  victor 
belong  the  spoils."  He  made  partisanship  venal. 

He  continued  the  war  on  the  national  bank;  removed  two  or 
three  secretaries  from  the  cabinet  to  get  one  to  do  his  bidding 
in  making  the  national  deposits  in  state  banks ;  was  opposed  by 
the  Senate,  which  refused  to  confirm  some  of  his  appointments. 
The  Senate  passed  a  resolution  of  censure  on  him. 

He  opposed  the  extension  of  the  national  road  and  internal 
improvements  generally.  His  administration  was  narrow,  belli- 
cose and  imperious.  It  produced  a  great  panic  in  business;  was 
a  hindrance  to  the  growth  of  the  country,  which  advanced  only 


ANDEEW  JACKSON.  251 

in  spite  of  it.  The  country  bore  the  evils  of  state  bank  currency 
till  the  Jackson  faction  in  politics  was  overcome  and  the  present 
national  currency  established. 

Mr.  Calhoun  was  his  vice-president  and  opposed  him.  Jack- 
son was  a  moderate  tariff  man.  Calhoun  was  opposed  to  any 
tariff,  and  led  a  faction  in  South  Carolina,  who  wished  to 
nullify  the  tariff  laws  by  refusing  to  pay  duties  on  imported 
goods  at  the  port  of  Charleston.  It  was  the  state  rights  doc- 
trine put  in  practice  —  the  seed  of  rebellion  —  was  rebellion  on 
a  small  scale.  Jackson  opposed  it  fiercely,  and  was  widely  sus- 
tained in  his  opposition. 

The  foreign  affairs  of  his  government  were  better  conducted. 

Just  before  the  close  of  his  administration,  the  Senate 
expugned  its  resolution  of  censure  of  the  president. 

Yet  imperious,  factional,  and  ill-judged  as  Jackson's  admin- 
istration was  in  most  particulars,  and  opposed .  as  it  was  to  the 
established  principles  of  the  government  in  many  particulars,  it 
continued  to  be  popular  with  the  masses.  The  "Old  Hickory" 
furor  did  not  die.  The  battle  of  New  Orleans  could  not  be  for- 
gotten. His  absolutism  gratified  the  democratic  love  of  a 
powerful  leader  —  a  king  in  the  people's  name. 

Jefferson's  fears  were  realized.  Before  Jackson's  election 
Mr.  Jefferson  said  to  Daniel  Webster  :  "I  feel  much  alarmed  at 
the  prospect  of  seeing  General  Jackson  president.  He  is  one  of 
the  most  unfit  men  I  know  of  for  such  a  place.  He  has  very 
little  respect  for  law  or  constitutions ;  and  is  in  fact  an  able 
military  chief.  His  passions  are  terrible.  When  I  was  pres- 
ident of  the  Senate  he  was  senator ;  and  he  could  never  speak 
on  account  of  the  rashness  of  his  feelings.  I  have  seen  him 
attempt  it  repeatedly,  and  as  often  choke  with  rage.  His  pas- 
sions are  no  doubt  cooler  now.  He  has  been  much  tried  since  I 
knew  him  ;  but  he  is  a  dangerous  man."  But  it  turned  out  that 
his  passions  had  not  much  cooled.  He  was  Jefferson's  disciple 
in  political  doctrines,  but  he  was  a  man  so  different  that  there 
could  be  but  little  affinity  between  them. 

Mr.  Parton,  his  appreciative  biographer,  says  of  him  :  "His 
ignorance  of  law,  history,  politics,  science, — of  everything 


252  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

which  he  who  governs  a  country  ought  to  know,  —  was  extreme. 
Mr.  Trist  remembers  hearing  a  member  of  the  general's  family 
say  that  General  Jackson  did  not  believe  the  world  was  round. 
His  ignorance  was  a  wall  round  about  him,  high  and  impenetrable. 
He  was  imprisoned  in  his  ignorance,  and  *  sometimes  raged 
around  his  little  dim  enclosure  like  a  tiger  in  his  den."  Yet  he 
had  many  grand  qualities  which  will  never  be  forgotten  to  be 
set  down  to  his  credit. 

March  4,  1837,  he  retired  from  public  life  to  the  Hermitage, 
where  he  lived  in  rural  peace,  growing  calmer,  sweeter,  gentler, 
till  the  close  of  his  e'arthly  life.  In  his  later  days  he  became  a 
devout  Christian.  He  had  always  believed  in  Christianity  as 
taught  by  the  Presbyterian  church.  The  evening  of  his  life  was 
a  benediction.  Every  day  he  gathered  his  family  servants  about 
him,  and  led  them  in  family  worship.  His  spirit -became  Christ- 
like.  He  loved  to  read  the  scriptures  and  meditate  upon  their 
teachings.  Heaven  was  near  and  dear  to  him,  especially  so  as 
his  wife  waited  his  coming  there.  His  was  a  great  soul,  which 
had  a  rough  voyage  on  this  turbulent  sea;  yet  it  went  calmly  and 
grandly  into  port  at  last.  It  was  one  of  the  great  products  of 
the  republic — tropical  and  vigorous ;  yet  it  is  a  beacon  of  warn- 
ing to  the  generations,  against  the  neglect  of  education,  the 
spirit  of  faction  and  the  narrowness  of  partisanship,  as  well  as 
against  elevating  to  national  leadership  men  undisciplined  in 
self-control  and  untrained  in  civic  affairs. 


ANDKEW  JACKSON. 


f  HE  flRAVE  OF  ANDREW  ^ACKSON. 

Jackson  and  the  Hermitage  are  associated  terms,  like  Wash- 
ington and  Mount  Vernon.  Man  and  his  home  ought  to  be 
associated  terms. 

Eleven  miles  from  Nashville,  Tennessee,  on  the  Lebanon 
turnpike,  that  affords  a  beautiful  drive  between  rows  of  shade- 
trees,  is  the  Hermitage,  where  Andrew  Jackson  dwelt  and  died, 
and  where  many  great  men  used  to  go  to  see  him.  It  is  a  two- 
storied  brick  house  with  porticos,  supported  by  Corinthian  col- 
umns. It  is  neglected,  and  slowly  going  to  decay.  Some  fifty 
or  sixty  rods  away  is  the  old  wooden  house  he  lived  in  before 
this  was,  'ouilt.  Other  old  time  buildings  are  not  far  away. 

At  a  little  distance  from  the  house,  perhaps  two  hundred 
feet  or  more,  in  the  corner  of  the  garden,  are  the  graves  of 
President  Jackson  and  his  wife,  beneath  a  massive  monument  of 
Tennessee  limestone.  There  is  a  circular  area  of  earth,  eighteen 
feet  across,  and  elevated  some  two  feet.  On  a  base  covering  the 
graves,  are  erected  eight  fluted  columns,  which  support  a  plain, 
but  well-conceived  entablature,  surmounted  by  an  urn.  Within, 
the  ceiling  and  cornice  are  ornamented  with  white  stucco  work. 
In  the  center  of  this  column-enclosed  platform,  resting  on  a 
square  base  is  a  pyramid.  On  the  left,  just  over  the  body  of  the 
president,  is  a  stone  with  this  inscription  : 


BORN  MARCH  15,  1767; 
DIED  JUNE  8,  1845. 


On  the  right  of  the  pyramid  is  a  similar  stoner  the  inscrip- 
tion on  which  records  his  profound  estimation  of  his  wife : 
"  Rachael,  who  died  December  22,  1828,  at  the  age  of  sixty-one. 
Her  face  was  fair;  her  person  pleasing;  her  temper  amiable,  and 
her  heart  kind ;  she  delighted  in  relieving  the  wants  of  her  fel- 


254 


OUK   PRESIDENTS. 


low  creatures,  and  cultivated  the  Divine  pleasure  by  the  most 
liberal  and  unpretending  methods;  to  the  poor  she  was  a  bene- 
factor, to  the  wretched  a  comforter,  to  the  rich  an  example,  to 
the  prosperous  an  ornament;  her  piety  went  hand  in  hand  with 
•her  benevolence,  and  she  thanked  her  Creator  for  being  able 
to  do  good.  A  being  so  gentle  and  yet  so  virtuous,  slander 
might  wound,  but  could  not  dishonor ;  even  death,  when  he 
tore  her  from  the  arms  of  her  husband,  could  but  transport 
her  to  the  bosom  of  her  God/' 


CHAPTER   IX. 


MABTIN    VAN    BUEEH". 

EIGHTH    PRESIDENT    OP    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

BURNING  from  General  Jackson's  to  Martin  Van  Buren's 
life  is  like  leaving  the  turbulent  ocean  and  gliding  into 
a  peaceful,  land-locked  harbor.  Between  the  two  men 
there  could  not  be  sharper  contrasts;  yet  they  were  ardent 
personal  friends.  Jackson  was  nearly  sixteen  years  the 
senior,  and  had  the  combined  feelings  of  a  father  and 
elder  brother,  after  their  acquaintance,  toward  his  young  friend 
and  political  co-worker. 

It  is  instructive  to  trace  the  history  of  men  so  different, 
reared  in  the  same  country,  accepting  the  same  political  princi- 
ples and  trained  in  the  same  school  of  partisan  life.  It  shows 
the  power  of  original  endowment  and  social  surroundings. 

ANCESTRY,    BIRTH   AND   BOYHOOD. 

As  the  name  indicates,  the  ancestors  of  Martin  Van  Buren 
were  Germans.  They  belonged  to  that  thrifty  and  solid-sensed 
class  which  settled  in  .the  valley  of  the  Hudson  and  put  so  much 
good  blood,  muscle  and  character  into  the  society  of  the  New 
World. 

The  emigrants  from  Holland  and  Germany  have  had  a  strong 
life  in  America.  Holland  was  quite  abreast  of  England  in 
advanced  ideas  in  the  seventeenth  century.  The  men  of  the 
Mayflower  went  first  to  Holland,  and  then  came  to  the  new 

255 


256  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

tinent.  Emigrants  from  Holland  followed  right  on.  Their 
life  and  work  are  mingled  in  the  people  and  institutions  of  this 
country. 

Martin  Van  Buren's  father,  Abraham  Van  Buren,  was  a 
farmer  in  the  old  town  of  Kinderhook,  a  few  miles  east  of  the 
Hudson.  When  Martin  was  once  ashed  how  far  he  could  trace 
his  lineage,  he  replied,  "•  To  Kinderhook."  Up  from  the  com- 
mon people  the  great  minds  of  the  republic  have  come.  Mr. 
Van  Buren  was  also  a  tavern-keeper,  turning  thrifty  pennies 
from  a  double  calling. 

Martin  was  the  eldest  son,  born  December  5,  1782,  just  as 
the  revolutionary  war  was  closing.  The  valley  of  the  Hudson 
had  been  swept  over  and  over  by  the  tides  of  that  war,  and  its 
inhabitants  were  charged  with  its  public  and  patriotic  spirit. 
The  generation  to  which  Martin  belonged  was  born  of  that 
spirit.  That  great  "time  that  tried  men's  souls "  projected 
itself  into  the  next  generation. 

As  the  boy-of -all-work  on  a  farm  and  the  general  helper  about 
a  country  hotel  Martin  was  taught  a  variety  of  useful  lessons — 
the  use  of  his  hands  and  muscles  in  work  and  of  his  mind  and 
manners  in  mingling  with  men.  He  had  an  early  contact  with 
material  nature  and  human  nature,  both  of  which  he  studied 
to  profit. 

To  most  boys  the  old  country  tavern  was  an  unprofitable 
place.  The  waste  of  time  and  money  in  the  bar-room,  the  pro- 
fanity and  ribaldry  too  common  there,  the  company  that  drags 
down  and  the  lessons  that  corrupt,  all  tend  to  make  it  the  last  place 
to  look  for  the  boys  that  make  presidents.  While  a  hundred  boys 
would  have  been  weighted  down  by  the  depressing  influences  of 
such  a  place,  Martin  Van  Buren  set  his  face  upward,  treated 
everybody  with  respect,  learned  to  be  courteous,  a  gentleman  to 
everybody,  and  at  the  same  time  how  to  serve,  please,  keep  his 
own  counsels  and  what  are  the  mainsprings  of  human  action. 
It  was  not  the  highest  practical  education  which  he  got  in  this 
place,  but  it  was  one,  no  doubt,  which  did  much  to  shape  his 
character  and  career.  It  made  him  observant,  studious  to 
please,  bland,  genial  and  shrewd  without  the  appearance  of 


MARTIN   VAN   BUREN.  257 

effort.  It  is  interesting  to  connect  nis  later  life  and  character 
with  this  practical  school  of  his  boyhood. 

His  early  education  was  got  in  the  schools  of  his  village, 
which  he  attended  until  he  was  fourteen.  It  is  said  that  he 
finished  his  academic  studies  in  his  native  village  when 
fourteen. 

He  then  began  the  study  of  law  in  an  office  in  Kinderhook, 
and  perseveringly  pursued  it  six  years.  Then  he  went  to  New 
York  city  and  studied  under  the  tuition  of  William  P.  Van 
Ness,  who  afterward  became  much  known,  and  especially  for 
his  connection  with  the  Burr  and  Hamilton  duel,  in  which 
the  latter  lost  his  life.  Martin  became  acquainted  with  Burr, 
who  was  intimate  with  Van  Ness.  Burr  was  at  this  time  a 
brilliant  and  seductive  man  in  the  midst  of  a  very  popular 
career.  Martin  Van  Buren  was  a  handsome,  polite,  precocious 
and  talented  young  man  of  twenty.  There  was  much  that  was 
congenial  between  them.  They  were  both  men  of  fine  manners 
and  forceful  and  brilliant  minds.  Burr  was  unprincipled  and 
came  to  a  great  fall,  but  at  this  time  was  suspected  by  none. 
His  brilliance  was  froth  on  a  foul  pool. 

At  the  end  of  a  year  in  New  York  city,  in  seeking  a  knowl- 
edge of  laAV,  ho  returned  to  Kinderhook  and  set  up  the  practice 
of  his  profession.  At  that  time  such  a  long  study  was  demanded 
to  get  admission  to  the  bar,  because  he  had  not  a  college  edu- 
cation. The  defect  was  not  remedied  by  the  long  study;  for 
beyond  a  doubt,  his  whole  career  was  narrowed,  weakened, 
less  dignified  and  high-minded  than  it  Avould  have  been  had  he 
had  the  bracing  and  broadening  of  a  full  course  of  academic 
study.  He  became  noted  as  a  politician  rather  than  a  states- 
man— just  the  result  that  such  a  defective  beginning  might 
have  been  expected  to  produce.  He  was  narrow,  local,  time- 
serving, studious  of  expedients,  managing  for  men  and  votes, 
artful  in  management,  shrewd  in  partisanship,  rather  than 
broad,  general,  long-seeing,  comprehensive,  national.  His  popu- 
larity was  temporary  and  not  permanent.  He  built  no  great 
monuments  for  the  ages  to  remember  him  by.  And  not  because 
he  had  not  ability,  but  because  he  did  not  educate  himself  broadly. 
17 


258  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

He  sought  only  a  boy's  education,  the  rudiments,  not  the 
principles  of  learning.  The  education  obtained  before  sixteen 
is  such  as  a  boy  comprehends ;  that  got  afterward  lays  the 
foundation  of  the  man.  Th£  boy  Van  Buren  was  educated;  the 
-man  Van  Buren  was  not.  The  man  was  put  to  the  law,  and 
made  a  technical,  close,  formal  lawyer,  rather  than  a  broad, 
great-thinking,  fresh  and  expansive  man.  A  born  gentleman, 
with  a  rich  and  vigorous  mind,  active,  studious,  eager  for 
knowledge,  ambitious  for  honorable  distinction,  patriotic  and 
humane,  he  yet  only  began  to  study,  and  then  hurried  on  to  the 
technology  of  the  law  —  to  the  often  belittling  drudgery  of 
detail.  Always  will  the  readers  of  his  externally  successful 
life  deplore  its  too  narrow  and  stinted  beginning. 

VAN   BUREN  THE   LAWYER. 

In  1803,  in  the  twenty-first  year  of  his  age,  young  Van 
Buren  was  admitted  to  the  bar  as  an  attorney  at  law.  He 
immediately  entered  into  partnership  with  his  half  brother, 
James  I.  Van  Allen,  and  entered  into  the  practice  of  law  in 
Kinderhook.  AVhile  a  student  he  often  tried  cases  before  jus- 
tices of  the  peace,  and  showed  a  cleverness  and  penetration  which 
augured  the  successful  lawyer.  Four  years  later  he  was 
admitted  to  the  supreme  court.  In  1808  he  was  appointed  sur- 
rogate of  Columbia  county;  and  soon  after  that  he  removed  to 
Hudson,  the  county  seat  of  his  county  —  a  thriving  town  on  the 
Hudson  river.  His  practice  increased  and  became  extensive  in 
a  few  years.  His  devotion  to  his  profession,  his  readiness  as  a 
speaker,  his  bland  ways  and  manly  and  courteous  bearing  won 
him  friends  and  success.  For  some  twenty-five  years  he  con- 
tinued his  successful  and  lucrative  practice.  In  1806  he  mar- 
ried Miss  Hannah  Hoes,  to  whom  he  had  been  sincerely  attached 
for  a  number  of  years.  It  was  an  agreeable  marriage  and 
brought  to  both  its  mutual  pleasures  and  profits.  Four  sons 
were  born  to  them  when  his  wife  began  to  decline  with  con- 
sumption, and  died  in  1818.  He  remained  a  widower  through 
nis  life. 


MARTIN   VAN   BUREN.  259 


A   POLITICIAN". 

Mr.  Yan  Buren  embraced  the  political  views  of  his  father 
who  was  an  enthusiastic  admirer  of  Jefferson.  Many  of  the 
young  man's  relatives  were  federalists.  The  federalists  were  in 
the  majority  in  his  state.  They  endeavored  to  persuade  him  to 
the  majority  as  a  matter  of  good  business  policy.  But  he  was 
a  sincere  democrat  and  gave  no  heed  to  such  persuasions.  As 
early  as  his  eighteenth  year  he  was  appointed  a  delegate  from 
his  native  town  to  a  political  convention,  to  nominate  a  candi- 
date to  the  legislature.  He  prepared  an  address  to  the  electors 
of  his  dristrict,  young  as  he  was. 

When  he  was  twenty  years  old  Mr.  Jefferson  was  elected  to 
the  presidency.  He  was  young  Van  Buren's  ideal  statesman. 
By  this  event  his  enthusiasm  for  his  ideal  teacher  of  political 
truth  was  all  that  an  ardent  young  soul  could  give.  Jefferson's 
messages,  addresses,  statements  of  policy,  were  his  study.  He 
gave  his  ardent  support  to  all  the  president's  men  and  meas- 
ures. The  eight  years  of  Jefferson's  administration  fixed  Mr. 
.Van  Buren  deeply  in  the  grooves  of  the  democratic  party.  He 
was  too  ardent  a  follower  of  his  great  master  to  raise  any  doubts 
or  queries  about  any  of  his  teachings,  and  too  little  breadth  of 
intellectual  culture  to  be  an  original  thinker  concerning  them. 
He  was  educated  to  the  level  of  partisanship,  and  not  to  that  of 
leadership  in  political  thought.  He  took  his  doctrines  ready 
formed  from  his  teacher.  He  was  a  second  and  reduced  edition 
of  Jefferson.  And  it  was  the  misfortune  of  his  education,  or 
lack  of  it,  that  he  was  so. 

In  1812,  when  thirty  years  of  age,  he  was  elected  in  a 
closely  contested  election,  a  member  of  the  State  Senate.  'Mr. 
Madison  was  now  president,  and  the  second  war  with  England 
was  just  opening.  Mr.  Van  Buren  gave  the  force  of  his  influ- 
ence to  the  support  of  the  administration  and  the  war.  He  was 
a  true  patriot,  a  genuine  American  in  a  Dutch  setting. 

In  1815,  at  the  age  of  thirty-three,  he  was  elected  attorney- 
general  of  the  state  of  New  York  —  a  mark  of  respect  for  a 
young  man  which  indicates  an  early  ripeness  in  his  profession. 


260  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

He  was  also  elected  a  regent  of  the  university.  The  next 
spring  he  was  re-elected  state  senator  for  four  years.  This  was 
about  the  time  De  Witt  Clinton  was  projecting  and  urging  his 
internal  improvements,  especially  the  canal  through  the  state  of 
New  York,  that  has  ever  since  been  called  "Clinton's  Ditch." 
It  received  great  opposition  and  was  hotly  denounced  by  many 
of  the  tax  payers.  It  was  the  introduction  to  canal  building 
in  the  country  and  did  great  service  in  its  day  in  helping  to 
develop  the  settlement  and  resources  of  the* country. 

Mr.  Van  Buren  took  the  side  of  Mr.  Clinton  on  the  internal 
improvements  of  the  state.  Afterward  De  Witt  Clinton  Avas 
elected  governor  of  the  state  by  the  democratic  party.  Mr.  Van 
Buren,  in  1818,  set  up  an  opposition  to  the  governor's  adminis- 
tration, and  organized  what  was  called  "The  Albany  Regency,"  a 
sort  of  tammany  club,  or  self-appointed  clique,  which  in  a  few 
years  got  the  politics  of  the  state  in  its  hand  and  held  it  for 
many  years.  It  was  a  break  in  the  party,  occasioned  by  its  two 
leaders,  which  was  fierce  for  a  considerable  time.  Van  Buren 
won  in  the  end  and  gathered  pretty  much  the  whole  party 
around  him. 

In  February,  1821,  the  legislature  of  New  York  elected  Mr. 
Van  Buren  to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  when  lie  was 
thirty-nine  years  of  age.  Mr.  Van  Buren's  opposition  to  Gov- 
ernor Clinton,  division  of  the  democratic  party,  formation  of 
the  Albany  Regency,  and  managing  it  for  fifteen  years,  got  him 
the  name  of  a  politician.  His  enemies  called  him  a  wire-worker, 
a  fox,  an  oily,  deceptive  managing  man.  Many  regarded  him 
as  the  impersonation  of  cunning.  His  good  looks,  his  nice 
taste,  which  always  dressed  him  like  a  fine  gentleman,  as  he 
really  was,  his  polished  manners,  his  absolute  self  control,  his 
suavity  and  courtesy,  were  all  interpreted  as  evidence  of  his  sly 
cunning  and  innate  duplicity.  Because  he  would  not  be  a  boor, 
many  believed  him  to  be  an  autocrat  under  the  polished  garb  of 
a  democratic  gentleman.  The  same  year  that  he  was  elected  to 
the  Senate,  a  convention  was  held  in  the  state  of  New  York  to 
revise  the  constitution.  Mr.  Van  Buren  was  a  delegate  to  this 
convention,  and  was  of  such  practical  service  as  won  the  approval 


MARTIN   VAN    BUREN.  261 

of  all  parties.  He  was  opposed  to  universal  suffrage  ;  was  in 
favor  of  a  property  qualification ;  was  in  favor  of  colored 
men  having  the  right  of  suffrage  on  the  same  terms  as  white 
men.  His  course  in  this  convention  was  so  judicious  and  con- 
servative, that  even  the  federalists  had  no  fault  to  find  with  him. 
In  his  work  here,  he  showed  the  real  quality  of  his  mind, 
because  he  was  not  acting  as  a  politician,  but  as  a  statesman.  He 
was  a  man  of  quick  and  strong  power,  but  that  power,  for  the 
most  part,  was  put  to  the  service  of  a  party,  rather  than  to  the 
broader  and  nobler  service  of  the  country. 

In  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  Mr.  Van  Buren  was 
active  and  influential,  advocating  the  abolition  of  imprisonment 
for  debt,  in  actions  in  the  United  States  courts,  amendments  to 
the  judiciary  system,  a  general  bankrupt  law,  a  just  invest- 
ment of  the  money  for  the  sales  of  public  lands  in  the  states 
where  they  were  made. 

Mr.  Monroe  was  now  president.  It  was  the  "era  of  good 
feeling."  The  federal  party  was  dead.  The  democratic  party 
was  in  full  power.  The  whig  party  was  not  ye.t  organized. 
The  old  federalists  were  a  scattered  host  of  strong,  good  men, 
feeling  about  for  some  way  to  act  together.  But  no  great  ques- 
tion had  come  up,  around  which  they  could  rally  in  opposition 
to  the  triumphant  democracy.  John  Quincy  Adams  was  secre- 
tary of  state4  and  conducting  the  duties  of  that  office  with  great 
ability,  and  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  federalists.  Mr.  Monroe 
respected  the  rights  of  the  minority,  and  appointed  many  mod- 
erate federalists  to  office,  as  had  been  the  costom  thus  far  by 
the  presidents. 

In  1825,  John  Quincy  Adams  took  his  seat  as  president. 
Mr.  Van  Buren  opposed  his  election,  advocating  the  claims  of 
Andrew  Jackson.  Mr.  Adams  was  a  scholar,  a  non-partisan,  a 
statesman  of  the  largest  type,  outranking  in  ability  and  in 
knowledge  of  the  world's  affairs  and  history,  any  statesman  in 
Europe — honest,  patriotic,  non-sectional,  a  gentleman  and  Chris- 
tian. Andrew  Jackson  was  his  opposite  in  almost  everything 
but  integrity  and  patriotism.  And  yet,  Mr.  Van  Buren  threw 
his  great  influence  and  skill  in  manipulating  elections,  in  favor 


262  OUR    PRESIDENTS. 

of  Andrew  Jackson.  Party  considerations  in  the  main  actuated 
him.  Socially,  intellectually  and  morally,  his  sympathies  were 
with  Mr.  Adams.  He  did  not  comprehend  Mr.  Adams  on  account 
of  the  narrowness  of  his  studies,  and  the  meagreness  of  his 
knowledge  of  nations,  their  laws,  histories  and  developments. 
In  knowledge  he  was  nearer  the  level  of  Jackson  than  Adams. 
Yet  in  the  main,  party  moved  him  in  this  choice. 

After  Mr.  Adams  became  president  Mr.  Van  Buren  opposed 
his  administration  and  began  at  once  to  shape  the  next  cam- 
paign for  Jackson.  In  this  work  he  was  skillful.  He  was 
schooled  in  it.  In  the  Senate  of  New  York  he  had  planned  and 
secured  the  manipulation  of  the  party  in  that  state,  and  held  it 
for  fifteen  years.  Now  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  he 
was  doing  the  same  work  for  the  party  of  the  country.  He 
became  chief  manipulator.  He  was  not  too  scholarly,  nor  too 
moral,  nor  too  great-minded  to  enjoy  this  work;  nor  was  he  so 
broad  a  lover  of  his  country  as  to  feel  the  degradation  of  this 
intense  partisanship.  The  way  was  making  for  a  great  change 
in  the  partisanship  of  national  politics,  and  Mr.  Van  Buren  was 
perhaps  as  influential  in  that  direction  as  any  other  man.  The 
change  to  come  was  expressed  in  the  phrase:  "  To  the  victors 
belong  the  spoils."  One  meaning  of  it  was,  "the  minority  have 
no  rights  which  the  majority  are  bound  to  respect." 

In  February,  1827,  Mr.  Van  Buren  was  re-elected  to  the 
Senate  of  the  United  States.  In  1828  Governor  Clinton  died 
and  Mr.  Van  Buren  was  chosen  to  fill  his  place,  as  Governor  of 
New  York.  In  this  position  he  sought  to  improve  the  finances 
of  the  state  by  recommending  and  urging  to  adoption,  the 
famous  funding  system.  But  it  was  a  scheme  of  his  fertile 
brain,  and  proved  a  failure.  He  had  not  studied  finance,  or 
political  economy — was  not  a  scholar  in  any  of  the  great  matters 
of  political  science,  and  of  course  could  not  recommend  anything 
out  of  any  large  knowledge  of  the  subject.  His  meagre  mental 
furnishing  was  constantly  showing  itself. 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN-.  263 


SECKETARY  OF  STATE. 

March  4,  1829.  Andrew  Jackson  became  president.  He 
appointed  Martin  Van  Buren  to  the  first  place  in  his  cabinet  — 
secretary  of  state.  Jackson  began  at  once  the  great  partisan 
measure  which  had  been  foreshadowed,  "to  the  victors  belong 
the  spoils."  Federalists  and  opponents  of  all  kinds  were 
removed  from  office  without  cause  only  that  they  had  voted 
against  Jackson.  He  made  his  adminstration  partisan  from 
center  to  circumference,  and  Jacksonian  in  its  destructive  vigor. 
Mr.  Van  Buren  was  one  with  his  chief,  and  it  may,  perhaps, 
have  been  as  much  due  to  him  as  to  Jackson,  that  these  strong 
partisan  measures  were  put  into  force.  When  Mr.  Monroe  was 
president  and  selected  Mr.  Adams  for  secretary  of  state,  and 
retained  the  most  of  the  officers  of  his  predecessor,  and  appointed 
many  moderate  federalists,  Andrew  Jackson  commended  him 
for  it.  But  now  he  was  in  a  different  mood.  How  much  Van 
Buren's  partisanship  did  to  produce  this  different  mood,  of 
course  is  not  known;  but  that  Van  Buren  approved  of  Jackson's 
slaughter  of  his  opponents  in  office,  seems  now  clear.  Two  men 
of  absolutely  different  mould  had  now  met  and  worked  in 
fraternal  partisanship  to  defeat  their  partisan  adversaries  and 
reward  their  friends.  Mr.  Van  Buren  was  a  state  rights 
advocate,  and  was  professedly  jealous  of  national  power.  When 
elected  Senator,  in  his  letter  of  acceptance,  he  said:  "It  shall  be 
my  constant  and  zealous  endeavor  to  protect  the  remaining 
rights  reserved  to  the  states  by  the  federal  constitution,  to  restore 
those  of  which  they  have  been  divested  by  construction,  and  to 
promote  the  interest  and  honor  of  our  common  country."  His 
main  thought  seemed  to  be  to  guard  the  rights  of  the  states. 

The  national  bank,  which  Jackson  fought  and  destroyed, 
and  by  doing  so  brought  financial  ruin  to  the  whole  country, 
was  opposed  chiefly  because  it  was  a  national  and  not  a  state 
institution,  and  was  in  danger  of  becoming  an  overshadowing 
monopoly;  it  was  also  a  federalist  institution,  established  by 
them,  who  believed  in  a  strong  and  stable  central  government. 
It  must,  therefore,  be  destroyed  and  the  funds  of  the  govern- 


264  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

ment  bo  deposited  in  state  banks.  The  state  banks  were  Jack- 
son's pets  and  must  handle  the  funds  of  the  national  government; 
that  was  democracy,  he  fancied.  He  and  Mr.  Van  Buren  were 
one  in  opposition  to  the  national'  bank  and  in  favor  of  the 
•state  banks,  and  doubtless  were  agreed  in  the  veto  of  the 
renewal  of  the  charter  of  the  national  bank  and  the  removal  of 
the  deposits  to  the  stato  banks,  and  were  together  the  cause  of 
the  immense  mischief  that  followed,  when  every  state  bank 
failed  or  suspended,  business  stopped,  a  wreck,  and  the  govern- 
ment had  to  go  into  the  markets  of  Europe  a  bankrupt,  to 
borrow  money  to  keep  its  machinery  moving.  What  was  national 
was  suspicious  to  minds  like  theirs,  fevered  with  the  partisan- 
ship doctrines  of  states  rights. 

While  Mr.  Van  Buren  was  secretary  of  state  there  occurred 
one  of  those  strange  episodes  in  high  life  that  once  in  a  while 
shake  a  nation.  There  was  a  tavern-keeper  in  Washington  by 
the  name  of  O'Neal.  When  Jackson  was  United  States  senator 
he  board  -d  at  this  tavern.  Peggy  O'Neal  was  a  lively  daughter 
who  macL  herself  so  social  with  her  father's  guests  as  to  throw 
suspicions  upon  the  propriety  of  her  conduct.  Miss  O'Neal  at 
length  married  a  Mr.  Timberlake,  a  purser  in  the  United  States 
navy.  Major  John  H.  Eaton,  of  Tennessee,  Jackson's  secretary 
of  war,  boarded  at  O'Neal's  and  was  much  captivated  with  the 
society  of  Mrs.  Timberlake.  The  tongue  of  scandal  was  not 
still.  Timberlake  committed  suicide  in  the  Mediterranean  sea ; 
Eaton  married  his  widow.  Now  Peggy  O'Neal  was  the  wife  of 
a  cabinet  officer.  The  wives  of  the  other  members  of  the  cabinet 
were  shocked,  and  would  not  receive  her  into  their  society. 
Jackson  impetuously  defended  Mrs.  Eaton  as  an  abused  and 
innocent  woman.  Van  Buren,  without  wife  or  daughter,  was 
one  of  the  m6st  pliant  and  polite  of  men,  and  as  politic  as  he 
was  courteous.  He  called  upon  Mrs.  Eaton ;  treated  her  with 
marked  attention  ,  and  made  parties  for  her  and  her  husband  ; 
all  of  which  was  very  grateful  to  his  chief  and  in  keeping  with 
Mr.  Van  Buren's  politic  character.  But  the  Eaton  controversy 
raged  for  two  years.  The  wives  of  foreign  ministers  were  drawn 
into  it.  Washington  society  was  shocked  and  shaken  by  it. 


MARTIN   VAN   BUREN.  265 

The  president  and  his  cabinet  and  vice-president  were  eight ; 
four  were  for  Mrs.  Eaton,  four  against  her.  At  length  the 
president  determined  to  secure  harmony  in  his  cabinet  by  the 
Jacksonian  method  of  dismissing  them  all  and  appointing  a  new 
cabinet.  This  was  accomplished  by  having  those  in  sympathy 
with  him  resign  and  he  would  appoint  them  to  other  places. 
Van  Buren  was  immediately  appointed  to  the  court  of  St.  James. 
The  others  took  the  hint  and  resigned.  All  this  redounded  to 
the  popularity  of  Van  Buren.  He  was  now  regarded  as  a  sort  of 
political  magician  whose  will  moved  cabinets  and  senates. 

But  this  was  not  all.  This  Eaton  embroglio,  intensified 
likes  and  dislikes  that  before  existed.  Van  Buren  had  secured 
Jackson's  friendship  in  his  work  for  his  election.  He  had 
pleased  him  in  everything  as  a  cabinet  officer ;  now  this  kind- 
ness for  the  traduced  and  charming  Mrs.  Eaton  had  won  his 
heart.  *  Henceforth  he  loved  Van  Buren ;  and  Jackson's  love 
was  a  great  volcanic  fire  that  ceased  not*to  flow  from  its  deep 
sources.  On  the  other  hand,  Calhoun  had  labored  for  Crawford 
in  the  campaign  ;  had  not  given  him  great  pleasure  in  the  cab- 
inet ;  and  had  taken  bitter  ground  against  Mrs.  Eaton,  and 
greatly  embittered  the  president  against  him.  This  bitterness 
followed  Calhoun  as  much  as  the  president's  love  followed  and 
rewarded  Van  Buren.  Jackson's  opposition  to  Calhoun  for  his 
nullification  of  the  tariff  laws,  in  his  next  term,  had  in  it  not  a 
little  of  the  spite  of  the  Eaton  controversy.  He  probably  never 
ceased  to  regret  that  he  did  not  get  the  chance  to  ''hang  Cal- 
houn high  as  Haman." 

Mr.  Van  Buren  met  a  triumphant  reception  in  New  York, 
and  sailed  very  soon  for  England.  He  was  cordially  received  in 
England.  His  courtly  manners,  great  personal  beauty,  and  dis- 
tinguished position  in  his  own  country,  were  at  once  recognized, 
and  he  was  received  with  honor. 

But  when  Congress  met  in  the  winter,  it  refused  to  approve 
his  appointment.  Calhoun,  Clay  and  Webster  opposed  him 
bitterly,  "accusing  him  of  such  a  spirit  of  narrow  partisanship 
as  to  unfit  him  to  be  the  representative  of  the  whole  country." 
He  was  acused  of  being  "the  originator  of  the  system  of  remov- 


266  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

ing  from  office  every  incumbent,  however  able  and  faithful,  who 
did  not  advocate  the  principles  of  the  party  in  power." 

Mr.  Van  Buren's  rejection  by  the  Senate,  it  was  supposed  by 
some,  would  operate  against  his  popularity.  Mr.  Calhoun,  who 
most  bitterly  hated  him,  said  triumphantly:  "It  will  kill  him, 
sir, —  kill  him  dead.  He  will  never  kick,  sir, —  never  kick.'' 
But  Jackson's  mighty  energy  was  roused  in  his  behalf,  and  he 
determined  to  do  everything  in  his  power  to  elevate  him. 

• 

VICE-PRESIDENT  VAN  BUREN. 

March  4,  1833,  Jackson  was  re-elected  president  and  Martin 
Van  Buren  vice-president.  This  made  him  president  of  the 
Senate.  It  was  a  stormy  administration,  with  a  strong  and 
determined  opposition  from  the  Senate. 

The  president's  destruction  of  the  United  States  bank,  and 
removal  of  the  funds  of  the  government  to  the  state  banks,  so 
paralyzed  the  monetary  affairs  of  the  country  as  to  alarm  busi- 
ness, awaken  distrust,  and  put  a  stop  to  all  development  of 
resources. 

This  made  the  opposition  fiercer  and  the  party  contests  more 
bitter.  This  was  the  condition  of  the  country  when  Jackson 
retired  to  the  Hermitage,  and  Van  Buren  came  to  be  inaugurated 
in  his  place. 

PRESIDENT  VAN  BUREN". 

On  the  fourth  of  March,  1837,  Mr.  Van  Buren  was  inaugu- 
rated President  of  the  United  States.  This  was  a  result  greatly 
desired  by  his  great  predecessor.  Jackson  had  set  his  heart  on 
this;  partly  because  he  loved  him,  partly  because  Calhoun  hated 
him,  whom  he  would  like  to  have  hanged  for  his  nullification. 

"Leaving  New  York  out  of  the  canvass,"  says  Mr.  Parton, 
"the  election  of  Mr.  Van  Buren  to  the  presidency  was  as  much 
the  act  of  General  Jackson  as  though  the  constitution  had  con- 
ferred upon  him  the  power  to  appoint  a  successor." 

Mr.  Van  Buren  selected  John  Forsyth,  of  Georgia,  secretary 
of  state ;  Levi  Woodbury,  of  New  Hampshire,  secretary  of  the 
treasury;  Joel  R.  Poinsett,  of  South  Carolina,  secretary  of  war; 


MARTIN   VAN   BUREN.  267 

Mahlon  Dickerson,  of  New  Jersey,  secretary  of  the  navy;  Amos 
Kendall,  of  Kentucky,  pastmaster-general,  and  Benjaman  F. 
Butler,  of  New  York,  attorney-general.  They  were  all,  but  Mr. 
Poinsett,  in  the  cabinet  under  Jackson.  Mr.  Van  Buren  started 
out  with  the  announcement  that  he  should  "follow  in  the  foot- 
steps of  his  illustrious  predecessor."  The  country,  therefore, 
had  no  right  to  expect  any  change  in  the  policy  of  the  goverment. 
The  fruits  of  Jackson's  administration  must  be  reaped  in  Van 
Buren's  also,  and  in  greater  abundance.  The  stagnation  of 
business  which  had  already  become  general  and  alarming,  would 
be  sure  to  become  greater  on  the  announcement  of  no  change  in 
the  policy  of  the  government.  And  so  it  proved.  Early  in 
May  the  pressure  on  the  banks  became  so  great  that  they  were 
obliged  to  suspend  specie  payments.  On  the  sixteenth  of  May 
the  legislature  of  New  York  authorized  the  suspension  of  specie 
payments  for  one  year.  There  had  then  been  two  months  of 
unparalleled  financial  embarrassment  in  the  whole  country.  It 
followed  right  on  after  Mr.  Van  Buren's  inauguration.  Failure 
followed  failure  in  rapid  succession.  Two  hundred  and  fifty 
houses  failed  in  New  York  city  in  three  weeks.  Business  was  at 
a  stand  still  in  all  the  cities.  Property  fell  rapidly  in  value ; 
men  were  idle;  suffering  was  extensive ;  complaints  were  bitter 
against  Jackson  and  his  successor.  Petitions  poured  in  upon  the 
president,  praying  that  the  circulars  issued  by  Jackson  requir- 
ing that  the  payments  for  public  lands  should  be  made  in  gold 
or  silver,  should  be  rescinded.  They  asked  also  that  he  would 
not  commence  suits  on  unpaid  bonds;  and  also  that  he  would 
call  an  extra  session  of  Congress.  He  hesitated  for  some  time, 
but  the  pressure  became  so  great  that  he  at  length  called  a 
meeting  of  Congress  for  the  first  Monday  in  September. 

The  session  lasted'  forty  days.  The  democrats  held  the 
majority  of  both  Houses,  but  not  all  of  them  agreed  with  the 
president's  policy.  Some  voted  with  the  whigs,  and  defeated 
the  independent  treasury  scheme  of  the  president.  The  pay- 
ment of  a  fourth  installment  to  the  states  was  postponed.  Ten 
millions  of  dollars  of  treasury  notes  were  authorized.  The  inde- 
pendent treasury  scheme  was  defeated  again  in  the  regular 


268  CUE   PRESIDENTS. 

session  of  Congress  the  next  winter;  but  near  the  close  of  his 
term  of  office  it  became  a  law.  Its  object  was  to  divorce  the 
government  from  all  connection  with  banks,  and  to  do  all 
government  business  with  gold  and  silver.  The  financial  policy 
of  Jackson  and  Van  Buren  grew  out  of  a  prejudice  against  the 
United  States  bank  as  a  federal  and  national  institution  as 
against  state  institutions.  That  prejudice  at  length  extended 
to  all  banks,  and  resulted  in  the  independent  treasury  scheme. 
It  was  one  of  the  heaviest  blows  on  the  prosperity  of  the  coun- 
try that  it  has  ever  had.  Business  floundered  for  years  in  a 
stagnant  sea.  The  hard-money  craze  captured  the  yeomanry  of 
the  country,  whose  small  trading  could  be  readily  done  with 
gold  and  silver;  but  it  was  a  heavy  burden  on  large  transactions, 
and  crippled  the  country  for  a  generation.  The  two  adminis- 
trations that  were  so  much  alike  in  policy  as  to  be  one,  Jack- 
son's and  Van  Buren's,  were  narrow  and  hindering  to  the 
prosperity  of  the  country,  for  lack  of  breadth  of  understanding 
and  thorough  knowledge  of  the  subject  of  finance,  on  which 
they  assumed  to  be  wise. 

The  state  currency,  upon  which  they  threw  the  country,  was 
always  weak  and  fickle,  and  their  course  made  us  a  nation 
without  a  national  currency. 

To  add  to  the  discontent  of  Van  Buren's  term,  the  Seminole 
war  in  Florida  continued  to  draw  great  sums  from  the  treasury; 
the  northeastern  boundary  question  threatened  a  war  with 
England,  and  the  slavery  question  took  on  a  more  threatening 
aspect  in  the  House  and  all  over  the  country.  A  resolution  was 
passed  laying  all  petitions  on  the  subject  on  the  table  without 
reading,  which  led  to  John  Quincy  Adams'  stout  and  long 
defense  of  the  right  of  petition.  Threats  of  a  dissolution  of  the 
Union  became  common,  especially  where  nullification  had  sown 
its  seeds  of  discontent. 

An  act  was  passed  in  Van  Buren's  term  giving  settlers  on 
public  lands  the  first  right  of  purchase,  which  was  just  and 
encouraging  to  western  settlement. 

Mr.  Van  Buren's  last  message  gloried  in  the  independent 
treasury,  and  in  a  country  ''without  a  national  debt  or  a  national 


MARTIN   VAN   BUREN.  269 

bank."  In  this  message  he  recommended  the  enactment  of 
more  stringent  laws  for  the  breaking  up  of  the  African  slave 
trade. 

But  a  new  election  was  coming.  The  opposition  had  become 
intense,  and  was  early  in  the  field.  The  old  federalists,  with 
large  numbers  of  disaffected  from  the  banks  and  business,  and 
intelligence  of  the  country,  had  grown  into  the  organized  whig 
party.  In  every  part  of  the  country  the  strong  opposition  was 
alert.  It  charged  the  administration  with  every  extravagance 
and  corruption,  with  indifference  to  the  laboring  masses,  with 
neglect  Of  the  country's  good.  Van  Buren  was  called  an  auto- 
crat eating  with  gold  spoons,  a  fox,  a  monster  of  selfishness. 
Even  his  virtues  were  perverted  into  vices.  The  canvass  was 
fierce  and  universal.  On  the  fourth  of  December,  1839,  the 
whig  party  nominated  William  Henry  Harrison  for  president 
and  John  Tyler  for  vice-president.  The  democratic  party,  on 
the  fifth  of  May,  1840,  nominated  Van  Buren.  The  whigs 
had  five  months  the  start  which  they  improved  in  thorough 
organization  and  in  rousing  the  whole  opposition,  force  into 
intense  activity.  The  canvass  was  made  a  memorable  one  by  the 
"log  cabins "  that  were  everywhere  paraded  as  symbols  of  Har- 
rison's humble  origin,  and  the  songs  of  "Tippecanoe  and  Tyler 
too,"  which  recited  the  story  of  his  famous  Indian  battle  and 
victory.  Monster  meetings  were  addressed  by  inflamed  orators; 
banners,  badges,  bonfires,  songs,  processions,  torchlights,  were 
everywhere  in  vogue  to  stir  the  masses  and  intensify  the  opposi- 
tion. It  was  a  desperate  canvass,  as  though  a  monster  had  got 
the  country  by  the  throat  and  he  must  be  struck  off  by  a  tre- 
mendous blow  at  the  ballot  box.  And  the  blow  came.  Van 
Buren  received  only  sixty  electoral  votes  and  Harrison  two 
hundred  and  thirty-foiir.  It  was  the  rising  of  an  ill-governed 
country  to  shake  off  the  incompetent  governors. 

In  1844  Mr.  Van  Buren  was  again  urged  upon  the  demo- 
cratic convention  as  its  candidate ;  but  he  was  rejected  because 
he  was  opposed  to  the  annexation  of  Texas  to  extend  the  realm 
of  slavery,  which  had  been  an  object  arranged  for  for  many 
years  by  the  supporters  of  that  institution. 


270  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

In  1848,  when  the  leaders  of  the  party  avowed  themselves 
ready  to  tolerate  slavery  in  New  Mexico,  not  satisfied  with  the 
area  of  Texas  for  that  institution,  Mr.  Van  Buren  and  a  portion 
of  the  party  set  up  as  the  free  democracy,  and  held  a  convention 
at  Utica,  at  which  he  was  nominated  for  president.  Another 
convention  was  held  at  Buffalo,  August  9,  and  Charles  Fran- 
cis Adams  was  nominated  for  vice-president.  This  convention 
declared  that  "Congress  had  no  more  power  to  make  a  slave 
than  it  had  to  make  a  king,"  and  that  "it  is  the  duty  of  the 
federal  government  to  relieve  itself  from  all  responsibility  for 
the  existence,  or  continuance  of  slavery  wherever  the- govern- 
ment possesses  constitutional  authority  to  legislate  on  that  sub- 
ject, and  is  thus  responsible  for  its  existence."  Mr.  Van  Buren 
gave  full  assent  to  these  anti-slavery  principles.  But  General 
Taylor,  the  regular  candidate,  was  elected. 

After  this  election,  Mr.  Van  Buren  lived  quietly  and  elegantly 
at  Kinderhook,  in  the  enjoyment  of  a  refined  and  placid  old  age. 
He  traveled  two  years  in  Europe,  enjoyed  much  society  of  the 
wise  and  good.  On  the  outbreak  of  the  civil  war  he  was  strongly 
for  the  government.  He  wrote  a  work  entitled,  "An  Inquiry 
into  the  Origin  and  Course  of  Political  Parties  in  the  United 
States,"  which  was  edited  by  his  son  in  1867.  He  died  July  24, 
1862,  at  the  age  of  eighty. 

Few  public  men  have  been  more  misunderstood,  than  Martin 
Van  Buren.  He  lived  in  a  critical  period  of  his  country's  his- 
tory, just  as  it  was  passing  out  of  the  revolutionary  era  Avhen  its 
fortunes  were  managed  by  the  great  men  who  were  the  glory  of 
that  era,  and  into  the  era  of  popular  conceit  when  a  rough  fron- 
tiersman was  counted  a  magician  of  political  wisdom,  and  when 
learning,  civil  experience  and  large  knowledge  of  law,  govern- 
ment and  history,  were  held  of  secondary  importance.  He  him- 
self fell  into  this  error  when  a  boy,  and  had  the  misfortune  to 
have  no  friend  to  counsel  him,  to  educate  himself  before  he 
entered  upon  the  large  affairs  of  public  life.  In  this  state  of 
mind  he  early  followed  the  erratic  leadings  of  erratic  minds,  and 
drifted  helpless  into  a  sea  he  found  it  hard  to  navigate.  He 
was  accused  of  art,  deceit,  the  wily  legerdemain,  of  the  heartless 


MARTIN   VAN   BUREN.  271 

and  ambitious  politician,  and  yet  was  honest  in  intention,  and 
sought  to  serve  his  country  well.  He  had  a  just  pride  of  char- 
acter and  conduct;  was  singularly  self-possessed,  and  was  a 
gentleman  everywhere  and  always,  but  did  not  see  the  high 
moralities  of  thought  and  statesmanship  which  alone  give  glory 
to  a  public  career. 

Mr.  Forsyth,  his  secretary  of  state,  made  this  estimate  of 
him:  "I  have  never  witnessed  aught  in  Mr.  Van  Buren  which 
requires  concealment,  palliation  or  coloring;  never  anything  to 
lessen  his  character  as  a  patriot  or  a  man;  nothing  that  he 
might  not  desire  to  expose  to  the  scrutiny  of  every  member  of 
this  body,  with  a  calm  confidence  of  unsullied  integrity.  He  is 
called  an  artful  man,  a  giant  of  artifice,  a  wily  magician.  Those 
ignorant  of  his  unrivaled  knowledge  of  human  character,  his 
power  of  penetrating  into  the  designs  and  defeating  the  purposes 
of  his  adversaries,  seeing  his  rapid  advance  to  power  and  public 
confidence,  impute  to  art  what  is  the  natural  result  of  those 
simple  causes.  Extraordinary  talent;  untiring  industry;  inces- 
sant vigilance;  the  happiest  temper,  which  success  cannot  cor- 
rupt, nor  disappointment  sour, —  these  are  the  sources  of  his 
unexampled  success,  the  magic  arts,  the  artifices  of  intrigue,  to 
which  he  has  resorted  in  his  eventful  life.  Those  who  envy  his 
success  may  learn  wisdom  from  his  example." 


*$HE  fJRAVE  OF  JlARTIN  WAN  lUREN. 

Martin  Van  Buren  was  born,  lived  and  died  at  Kinderhook, 
Columbia  county,  New  York.  And  there  reposes  what  was 
mortal  of  him.  The  graveyard  at  the  northern  end  of  the  vil- 
lage is  filled  with  tenants.  The  Van  Buren  lot  is  at  the  north- 
east corner  of  the  yard.  It  is  crowded  with  graves;  is  unfenced; 
is  even  without  boundary  marks;  is  flowerless  and  shrubless. 
The  president's  grave  is  in  the  center  of  the  lot.  Over  it  is  a 


272 


OUR   PRESIDENTS. 


plain  granite  monument  fifteen  feet  high.     Half  way  up  on  oue 
side  is  this  inscription: 


I  II  II  I  I  II  I  Illl  I  I  I  II  I  II  II  I  II  III  I  III  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  II  II  I  I  111  II  I  till H 


|     EIGHTH  PRESIDENT  OP  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


Born  December  5,  1782, 
Died  July  24,  1862. 


Hi  I  I  I  III  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  1  II 

Immediately  under  this  is  that  of  his  wife: 


HIS  WIFE. 

Born  March  3, 1783, 

Died  at  Albany,  New  York, 

February  3, 1819. 


Mr.  Van  Buren  had  three  sons,  the  remains  of  one  rest  with 
him;  the  rest  elsewhere.  His  parents  and  brother  Lawrence 
were  buried  here. 

Two  nieces,  daughters  of  Lawrence,  were  all  of  the  family 
that  lived  there  some  few  years  ago. 


"V^ — — M— ^= 


CHAPTER  X. 


WILLIAM    HENRY    HARRISON. 

NINTH  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 
ANCESTRY. 

the  opening  life  of  William  Henry  Harrison,  we  are 
carried  back  to  Virginia,  mother  of  presidents,  nursery 
of  freedom  and  the  revolution,  home  of  great  men  and 
great  deeds;  we  mingle  again  with  the  Washingtons,  the 
Randolphs,  the  Lees,  the  Masons,  Marshalls,  Henrys, 
Wythes,  Jeffersons,  Madisons  and  Monroes,  and  their  great 
compatriots;  we  see  again  that  rich  and  picturesque  land, 
rivered  with  the  Potomac,  the  James,  the  Shenandoah  and  the 
Eapidan,  washed  by  Atlantic  tides  and  overlooked  by  the  peaks 
of  the  Blue  Ridge — land  of  sunshine  and  fruitfulness,  which 
will  ever  hold  a  great  place  in  American  history  because  of  its 
production  of  so  many  great  men. 

The  father  of  William  Henry  was  Benjamin  Harrison,  of 
Virginia,  associate  of  the  great  patriots  of  the  revolution.  He 
was  in  comparatively  opulent  circumstances;  was  an  intimate 
friend  of  Washington;  was  among  the  first  in  Virginia  to  resist 
the  oppressions  of  England;  was  a  member  of  the  Continental 
Congress,  and  was  three  times  governor  of  Virginia.  When  in 
Congress  he  was  chosen  to  preside  over  that  body,  but  in  defer- 
ence to  Massachusetts  and  John  Hancock,  from  that  state,  he 
declined ;  and  seeing  that  Mr.  Hancock,  who  was  a  small  man, 
while  Harrison  was  very  large,  strong,  and  full  of  fun,  modestly 
18  273 


274  OUR  PRESIDENTS. 

hesitated,  he  caught  him  in  his  arms,  carried  him  to  the 
speaker's  chair  and  placed  him  in  it,  amid  roars  of  laughter 
from  the  members;  then  turning  round,  his  honest,  ruddy  face 
beaming  with  merriment,  he  said  :  "  Gentlemen,  we  will  show 
Mother  Britain  how  little  we  care  for  her  by  making  a  Massa- 
chusetts man  our  president,  whom  she  has  excluded  from 
pardon  by  a  public  proclamation." 

Mr.  Harrison  always  saw  the  ludicrous  side  of  things,  and 
often  had  his  joke  over  serious  matters.  He  was  a  signer  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence.  It  was  solemn  work,  in  the  face 
of  British  power,  for  the  colonists  to  put  their  names  to  their 
own  death-warrant,  if  they  failed  to  maintain  their  independ- 
ence. They  realized  it  all,  and  opened  that  solemn  work  with 
prayer.  While  the  signing  was  going  on,  Mr.  Harrison  turned 
to  Elbridge  Gerry,  who  was  a  small,  fragile  man,  and  said: 
"  Gerry,  when  the  hanging  comes  I  shall  have  the  advantage. 
You'll  kick  in  the  air  half  an  hour  after  it  is  all  over  with  me." 

This  was  the  father  of  the  ninth  president,  a  brave,  hearty, 
magnificent  man,  loyal,  loving,  and  overflowing  with  good- 
humor. 

BIRTH   AND  YOUTH. 

"William  Henry  was  the  third  and  youngest  son  of  this  brave 
Virginia  patriot.  He  was  born  at  Berkeley,  on  the  banks  of 
the  James  river,  February  9,  1773.  His  early  education  was 
got  in  the  schools  of  Virginia,  but  no  small  part  of  it  came  to 
him  unconsciously  from  his  family  associations — from  the  men 
of  the  revolution  whom  he  knew  and  heard  talk  of  the  times 
and  men  that  gave  being  to  the  nation.  The  air  of  Virginia 
was  alive  with  patriotism.  He  was  born  three  years  before  the 
Declaration  of  Independence.  He  was  ten  years  old  when 
Cornwallis  surrender3d  to  Washington  near  his  home,  and 
remembered  well  the  rejoicings  when  peace  was  declared.  He 
was  fourteen  when  the  convention  met  to  form  the  constitution; 
was  sixteen  when  Washington  was  inaugurated  president,  and 
twenty  when  he  entered  upon  his  second  term.  He  was  the 
child  of  that  great  era.  His  mind  fed  on  its  great  deeds,  and 


WILLIAM   HENBY  HARBISON.  275 

his  soul  drank  in  its  spirit.  He  was  educated  on  patriotism, 
liberty  and  martial  valor.  The  speeches,  messages,  constitu- 
tions and  laws  of  his  time  were  his  youthful  studies.  His  youth 
was  the  constitution  era  of  the  young  country.  The  principles 
of  civil  liberty  and  law  were  the  talk  of  the  men  and  youth  about 
him.  It  was  the  organizing  era  of  nationality.  To  live  then 
was  to  be  in  a  great  school.  It  was  especially  so  to  active  and 
aspiring  minds  like  young  Harrison's.  They  were  taken  out  of 
themselves  and  made  public-spirited.  Selfishness  was  made 
subservient  to  the  great  interests  of  society.  To  live  for  the 
general  good  was  the  great  and  manly  ambition.  Boys  that 
otherwise  would  grovel,  were  made  aspiring.  It  was  a  magnifi- 
cent age  to  live  in,  and  blessed  were  the  youth  who  were  born  to 
an  education  in  those  principle-discussing  and  state-making 
times.  Mean  and  sordid  living  was  riot  in  fashion.  Effeminacy 
had  no  place.  Courage,  stalwartness,  generosity,  large-minded- 
aess,  were  the  qualities  of  manly  virtue.  A  son  of  the  times 
fas  William  Henry  Harrison. 

His  father  died  in  1791,  when  he  was  eighteen.  He  was  left 
under  the  guardianship  of  Kobert  Morris,  the  distinguished 
financier.  He  entered  and  graduated  from  Hampden  Sidney 
college.  So,  to  the  educating  and  enlarging  influences  of  the 
times,  he  added  a  course  of  liberal  study.  He  did  not  cheat  his 
mind  to  serve  his  pocket;  did  not  give  to  youthful  frivolity  the 
time  that  manly  culture  demands.  The  youthful  years  were 
ripened  in  the  college  classes.  His  good  endowments  were  quick- 
^izd  by  the  added  strength  of  the  athletic  discipline  of  academic 
study.  He  carried  no  boy's  mind  into  a  man's  place;  but  with 
"furnished  powers,  ripened  and  energized  by  the  training  of  the 
schools,  he  entered  upon  a  man's  course  a  man  indeed,  with  a 
man's  breadth  of  mind  and  strength  of  action. 

OPENING  MANHOOD. 

During  his  course  of  study  young  Harrison  had  concluded  to 
study  medicine  and  make  its  practice  his  profession.  He  went 
to  Philadelphia  to  study  with  Doctor  Bush,  who  was  a  friend  of 


276  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

his  father  and  a  signer  with  him  of  the  Declaration  of  Independ' 
ence.  It  does  not  appear  how  long  he  remained  with  Doctor 
Rush,  but  it  could  not  have  been  long,  for  before  he  was  twenty- 
one  he  was  westward  bound,  as  a  soldier  to  defend  the  frontier 
against  the  murderous  Indians.  His  guardian  and  his  friends 
generally  tried  to  dissuade  him  from  it.  He  consulted  witli 
Washington,  who  approved  it,  who  secured  for  him  a  commission 
of  ensign.  Washington  was  greatly  interested  in  the  settlement 
of  the  west  and  knew  how  needful  it  was  to  have  an  army  to 
defend  the  settlements  against  the  savages;  and  also  what 
opportunities  were  open  to  the  youth  of  the  country  in  that  great 
field  of  enterprise.  With  Washington's  approval  he  turned 
his  young  face,  not  yet  twenty-one,  toward  the  setting  sun. 

Many  considerations  doubtless  entered  into  his  resolution  to 
go  as  a  soldier  into  the  new  west. 

When  he  was  eighteen  years  old  he  became  a  member  of  an 
abolition  society  at  Richmond,  Virginia,  the  object  of  which 
was  to  ameliorate  the  condition  of  the  slaves  and  secure  their 
freedom  by  all  legal  means.  In  speaking  of  this  later  in  life, 
he  said:  "From  my  earliest  youth  and  to  the  present  moment, 
I  have  been  an  ardent  friend  of  human  liberty.  The  obliga- 
tions which  I  then  came  under  I  have  faithfully  performed.  I 
have  been  the  means  of  liberating  many  slaves,  but  never  placed 
one  in  bondage.  I  was  the  first  person  to  introduce  into  Con- 
gress the  proposition  that  all  the  country  above  Missouri  should 
never  have  'slavery  admitted  into  it."  He  could  see  that 
slavery  was  entrenched  in  Virginia,  and  it  might  be  long  before 
it  would  be  abolished.  It  troubled  his  conscience  and  his  heart. 
It  would  be  better  to  go  away  from  it  at  once  into  a  free  terri- 
tory and  there  help  build  up  a  free  community. 

Again  his  young  blood  was  patriotic;  he  lived  in  stirring 
times;  he  was  ambitious  to  serve  a  country  the  birth  of  which 
he  had  seen;  why  settle  down  to  the  humdrum  practice  of  medi- 
cine when  the  great  west  was  calling  for  soldiers  and  settlers? 
Washington  began  as  a  soldier,  why  should  not  he?  There  was 
great  suffering  in  the  west,  there  was  need  of  soldiers  to  defend 
the  settlements.  So  he  Avent  —  went  a  soldier  boy. 


WILLIAM   HENRY   HARRISON.  277 

At  this  time  he  was  tall,  slender,  fragile.  His  friends  feared 
he  would  not  be  equal  to  the  hardships  of  campaign  life  in  an 
Indian  war.  Some  had  anxiety  lest  he  would  not  be  able  to  get 
there.  It  was  autumn;  but  nothing  daunted,  he  started  and 
crossed  the  country  and  mountains  on  foot  to  what  is  now  Pitts- 
burgh, and  thence  down  the  Ohio  river  to  Fort  Washington, 
located  where  Cincinnati  is  now  situated. 

General  St.  Clair  had  a  considerable  military  force  at  Fort 
Washington,  and  had  charge  of  the  army  on  the  frontier. 

A  little  while  before  Harrison  started  on  his  mission  into  the 
wilderness,  General  St.  Clair  had  made  a  western  movement 
with  fourteen  hundred  men  to  rout  the  Indians  from  along  the 
Wabash  river.  Near  the  headwaters  of  that  river,  he  was 
attacked  by  a  large  body  of  Indians,  who  gave  a  desperate  battle 
and  utterly  routed  him,  killing  five  hundred  and  thirty  and 
wounding  three  hundred  and  sixty  of  his  men.  Almost  two 
thirds  of  his  men  were  killed  or  wounded. 

Very  soon  after  reaching  the  fort,  Harrison  was  assigned  to 
the  duty  of  leading  a  pack-horse  train  of  supplies  to  Fort  Ham- 
ilton, twenty-five  or  thirty  miles  north,  on  the  Miami  river.  It 
was  a  perilous  undertaking,  for  the  skulking  foe  was  nearly 
omnipresent,  and  if  met,  the  pack-horses  would  be  at  his  mercy, 
as  well  as  the  few  men  with  them.  The  young  officer  performed 
so  well  his  duty  as  to  get  the  special  approval  of  General  St. 
Clair. 

The  delicate  and  boy-like  face  and  appearance  of  the  new 
soldier  who  had  come  from  Virginia  with  a  commission  from 
Washington,  attracted  attention  from  all  who  met  him.  After 
his  return  from  Fort  Hamilton,  an  old  frontiersman  said  of  him: 
"I  would  as  soon  have  thought  of  putting  my  wife  into  the  ser- 
vice as  this  boy ;  but  I  have  been  out  with  him,  and  find  those 
smooth  cheeks  are  on  a  wise  head  and  that  slight  frame  is  almost 
as  tough  as  my  own  weathei^beaten  carcass." 

It  was  not  long  before  the  young  ensign  was  promoted  to  the 
rank  of  lieutenant.  Very  soon  after  he  joined  the  army  of  Gen- 
eral Wayne,  who  had  been  sent  to  prosecute  more  vigorously 
this  war  with  the  Indians.  General  Wayne  nad  a  brilliant  revo- 


278  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

lutionary  record,  and  had  won  the  title  of  "Mad  Anthony"  by 
his  impetuous  and  fearless  assaults  on  the  enemy. 

It  is  to  be  remembered  that  this  was  not  long  after  the  revo- 
lutionary war,  and  that  during  that  war  the  British  had  armed 
the  Indians  as  far  as  they  could,  and  sought  to  incite  them 
against  the  American  settlers ;  and  that  this  Indian  war  was  a 
kind  of  lingering  result  of  the  revolutionary  war.  At  this  time 
the  Indians  had  become  very  widely  aroused,  and  had  deter- 
mined to  beat  back  the  tide  of  settlement  and  retain  the  terri* 
tory  which  is  now  Ohio,  as  hunting  ground  for  their  children. 

Lieutenant  Harrison  soon  saw  the  evil  results  of  intemper- 
ance in  the  army  —  that  it  was  even  worse  than  in  civil  society, 
as  the  soldiers  were  without  the  restraints  of  home,  regular 
employment  and  religious  influence.  He  believed  in  temperance 
as  a  personal  virtue  and  a  cardinal  principle  of  morality  ;  but  in 
the  army  he  saw  it  was  important  as  an  example,  and  especially 
in  an  officer,  so  he  adopted  high  temperance  principles,  and 
sought  in  all  legitimate  ways  to  inculcate  temperance  habits 
among  the  soldiers.  He  was  not  yet  twenty-one,  and  he  was 
principled  against  slavery  and  intemperance,  and  an  ardent 
patriot  and  a  friend  of  humanity,  having  cast  himself  into  the 
great  army  of  settlement  that  was  moving  on  for  human 
advancement.  He  had  also  given  his  adherence  to  the  cause  of 
education  by  a  thorough  collegiate  course  of  study.  This  was 
an  equipment  for  the  soldiership  of  life,  that  made  a  fine  promise 
for  young  Harrison's  future.  Here  was  a  foundation  for  a  noble 
manhood. 

On  the  twenty-eighth  of  November,  1792,  with  an  army  of 
about  three  thousand  men,  General  Wayne  went  down  the  Ohio 
river  from  Pittsburgh,  about  twenty-two  miles,  and  encamped  for 
the  winter.  The  next  spring  he  transported  his  army  in  boats 
down  to  Fort  Washington.  Here  Lieutenant  Harrison  joined 
"The  Legion,"  as  General  Wayne's-army  was  called. 

Several  months  passed  in  waiting  for  supplies,  so  that  the 
army  was  not  ready  to  move  till  autumn.  In  October  a  move- 
ment was  made  north  about  eight^  miles,  to  a  place  which  the 
army  called  Greenville.  Here  an  encampment  was  made  for  the 


WILLIAM    HENRY   HARRISON.  279 

winter.  About  twenty  miles  north  of  this  was  the  disastrous 
battle  ground  of  General  St.  Clair  with  the  Indians.  A  strong 
detachment  was  sent  to  possess  that  ground,  bury  the  remains, 
and  build  there  a  fort,  which  they  called  Fort  Kecovery.  In 
this  enterprise  Lieutenant  Harrison  rendered  such  conspicuous 
service  as  to  secure  the  especial  notice  of  his  general. 

In  the  spring  the  Indians  attacked  the  fort  with  great  reso- 
lution, and  were  beaten  back  time  after  time.  General  Wayne's 
army  had  now  been  in  the  territory  some  fifteen  months,  and 
had  advanced  into  the  heart  of  their  country.  They  knew  him 
as  a  warrior  who  fought  every  time  for  victory.  They  had  had 
time  to  gather  their  best  forces,  and  they  attacked  with  a  view  to 
demolish  his  army  as  they  had  that  of  St.  Clair  on  the  same 
spot,  and  drive  him  from  their  hunting  grounds.  But  he  was 
prepared  for  them,  terribly  punished  their  temerity  and  drove 
them  far  into  the  wilderness.  He  then  advanced  with  his  whole 
army  some  sixty  miles  north  to  the  junction  of  the  Auglaize  and 
Maumee  rivers,  where  he  constructed  a  fort.  Having  thus  a 
base  of  operations  on  the  Maumee,  he  moved  down  the  river  to 
meet  his  wily  foe  somewhere  in  ambush.  Moving  cautiously  as 
they  went,  not  to  be  ensnared,  on  the  twentieth  of  August  he  met 
some  two  thousand  chosen  Indian  warriors  ambushed  for  his 
reception  at  a  place  of  their  own  choosing.  A  desperate  battle 
followed;  but  the  fierce  men  of  the  woods  were  worsted  Avith  great 
losses  and  driven  still  farther  to  the  northwest  by  the  more 
enlightened  invaders  of  their  territory.  It  was  the  old  result 
over  again — intelligence  winning  the  victory  over  ignorance — 
civilization  bearing  down  triumphantly  upon  barbarism — the 
old  and  effete  passing  away  before  the  new  and  vigorous.  Gen- 
eral Wayne  was  hundreds  of  miles  in  the  wilderness,  away  from 
reinforcements  and-  supplies;  still  pushing  on  from  these 
essentials  of  support,  in  a  country  he  had  never  seen  and  of 
which  he  had  no  knowledge.  His  savage  adversary  was  at 
home  and  in  the  midst  of  his  supplies,  and  could  muster  more 
men,  and  yet  he  could  only  fly  before  the  more  intelligent 
invaders. 

In  these  frontier  battles  Lieutenant  Harrison  was  one  of 


280  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

« 

General  Wayne's  most  active  and  efficient  officers.  Quick, 
active,  brave  and  discreet,  he  could  serve  equally  well  in  any 
place — ho  could  lead  an  assault,  strengthen  a  weak  place,  draw 
in  an  exposed  regiment,  or  follow  into  the  wilderness  the  routed 
'foe.  His  educated  mind  and  intense  spirit  fitted  him  to  serve 
such  a  leader  as  Anthony  AVayne.  For  his  excellent  military 
conduct  in  this  campaign,  Lieutenant  Harrison  was  promoted  to 
ft  captaincy,  and  given  the  command  of  Fort  AVashington. 
About  this  time  the  British  military  posts  of  the  northwest  fell 
into  the  hands  of  our  government,  and  it  became  Captain  Har- 
rison's duty  to  receive,  occupy  and  supply  them.  AVhile  engaged 
in  this  duty,  he  married  the  daughter  of  John  Cleaves  Symmes. 
the  founder  of  the  Miami  settlements,  whose  land  covered  a 
portion  of  the  present  site  of  Cincinnati. 

In  April,  1798,  Captain  Harrison  resigned  his  place  in  the 
army  to  receive  the  appointment  of  secretary  of  the  north- 
western territory,  made  vacant  by  the  removal  of  AVinthrop 
Sargent  to  the  office  of  governor  of  the  southwestern  country. 
The  next  year  Secretary  Harrison  was  chosen  the  one  delegate 
to  represent  the  northwestern  territory  in  Congress. 

Up  to  this  time  the  land  in  this  great  territory  was  subject 
to  a  law  which  allowed  of  its  disposal  only  in  tracts  of  four 
thousand  acres.  Mr.  Harrison  exerted  himself,  against  much 
opposition,  to  get  this  law  changed  so  as  to  bring  the  public 
lands  within  the  purchasing  power  of  small  farmers. 

There  was,  from  the  beginning,  two  ideas  of  agricultural 
life  in  this  country — the  Arirginia  idea  of  great  landed  estates, 
brought  from  England  and  applied  to  this  country  with  a  view 
to  build  up  great  and  influential  families,  like  those  in  aristo- 
cratic society  in  England,  which  were  supposed  to  constitute 
the  strength  and  stability  of  a  nation,  and  the  New  England 
idea  of  small  farms,  which  grew  out  of  the  necessities  of  a 
poorer  people.  Mr.  Harrison  had  learned  that  the  latter  idea 
applied  more  generally  to  those  who  desired  to  be  actual  settlers 
on  the  new  lands  of  the  northwest,  and  secured  the  passage  of 
a  law  which  authorized  the  sale  of  the  public  lands  in  alternate 
sections  of  six  hundred  and  forty  and  three  hundred  and  twenty 


WILLIAM   HENRY  HARBISON.  281 

acres.  This  was  not  all  he  desired,  but  it  was  the  most  he 
could  get,  and  was  the  beginning  of  that  true  idea,  as  applied 
to  the  public  lands,  for  a  great  and  free  country,  of  having  the 
people  own  and  cultivate  their  own  lands. 

GOVERNOR  HARRISON. 

In  the  year  1800  the  northwestern  territory  was  divided,  the 
territory  of  the  present  state  of  Ohio  being  made  one,  and  the 
western  portion,  which  now  constitutes  Indiana,  Illinois  and 
Wisconsin,  being  the  othor,  which  was  called  "The  Indian 
Territory,"  and  Secretary  Harrison  was  made  governor  of  this 
latter  territory.  As  governor,  he  was  made  superintendent  of 
Indian  affairs.  His  area  of  authority  was  soon  enlarged  by  his 
being  appointed  governor  of  upper  Louisiana.  In  these  great 
territories  he  had  almost  absolute  authority.  He  was  first 
appointed  to  these  important  trusts  when  he  was  twenty-seven 
years  old  by  President  John  Adams.  He  was  afterward  reap- 
pointed  twice  by  Thomas  Jefferson,  and  again  by  James  Madi- 
son; so  that  he  held  those  offices  through  three  administrations. 
Those  were  the  times  when  "rotation  in  office"  had  not  been 
learned,  and  merit  held  its  well-earned  place  in  public  affairs. 

When  Governor  Harrison  began  his  administration  there 
were  but  three  white  settlements  in  the  Indian  territory.  But 
they  soon  began  to  increase,  and  now  the  wilderness  over  which 
he  presided  is  an  empire  of  civilization.  His  subjects  were 
chiefly  Indians,  who  claimed  ownership  in  their  tribal  relations 
of  the  most  of  the  land.  During  his  official  career  as  governor, 
he  made  thirteen  treaties  with  the  Indians,  and  secured  to  the 
United  States  sixty  millions  of  acres  of  land.  He  thus  became 
the  pioneer  of  possession  and  civilization. 

In  the  revolutionary  war  the  early  settlements  along  the 
Atlantic  coast  became  free,  and  afterward  organized  into  the 
United  States.  Then  began  the  process  of  acquisition  and 
extension,  which  has  made  them  the  mighty  nation  they  now 
are,  and  which  is  to  go  on,  it  may  be,  till  North  America  shall 
be  the  area  of  their  territory.  In  this  process,  no  man  has 
acted  a  more  conspicuous  and  important  part  than  William 


282  OUE   PRESIDENTS. 

Henry  Harrison,  or  left  a  whiter  or  more  manly  and  patriotic 
record.  Though  governor  over  sixty  millions  of  acres  Of  public 
lands,  making  purchases  and  disposals  at  will,  he  appropriated 
no  lands  to  himself,  made  his  office  in  no  way  lucrative  to  him- 
self, but  only  serviceable  to  the  enrichment  and  honor  of  his 
country  and  its  people.  In  all  his  treaties  with  the  Indians,  he 
was  sole  commissioner,  as  absolute  as  any  king  or  autocrat,  and 
yet  so  deep  was  the  confidence  imposed  in  him,  that  the  thought 
of  anything  wrong  in  his  transactions  seems  not  to  have  entered 
any  mind  connected  with  the  government.  No  pages  of  our 
national  history  are  whiter  than  those  which  record  the  life  and 
deeds  of  Governor  Harrison. 

One  man,  and  he  a  foreigner,  a  man  of  wealth,  by  the  name 
of  Mclntosh,  accused  the  governor  of  having  defrauded  the 
Indians  in  the  treaty  of  Fort  Wayne.  The  governor  demanded 
an  investigation  in  a  court  of  justice;  and  the  court  not  only  did 
not  find  against  the  governor,  but  fined  the  complainant  four 
thousand  dollars.  The  four  thousand  dollars  the  governor 
divided,  giving  one  third  of  it  to  the  orphan  children  whose 
fathers  had  died  in  battle,  and  two  thirds  he  returned  to  Mc- 
lntosh himself  to  teach  him  how  to  be  both  just  and  magnani- 
mous. 

Through  the  whole  of  his  career  as  governor,  opportunities 
for  improvement  of  his  personal  fortune  occurred,  but  he  always 
rejected  them,  because  he  would  not  have  the  semblance  of 
using  his  official  opportunity  to  enrich  himself  appear  to  the 
discredit  of  himself  or  his  country.  He  had  a  fine  sense  of 
honor  and  patriotic  integrity.  In  his  official  capacity  he  lived 
for  his  country  and  was  his  country.  His  acts  and  character 
were  his  country's,  and  so  he  guarded  his  conduct  as  the  apple 
of  his  eye. 

THE  TECUMSEH   WAR. 

A  singular  and  tragic  episode  in  Governor  Harrison's  career 
occurred,  beginning  about  the  year  1806. 

The  Indians  had  become  comparatively  peaceful,  and  many 
of  them  were  adopting  many  of  the  ideas  and  practices  of  civilized 


WILLIAM   HENRY   HARRISON".  283 

life,  when  there  arose  two  brothers  among  them  of  unusual 
ability  and  devotion  to  the  ancient  Indian  customs.  One  of 
them  was  a  chief  and  warrior  of  great  sagacity  and  enterprise, 
who  conceived  the  idea  of  not  only  putting  a  stop  to  the  civiliz- 
ing of  his  race  which  had  so  clearly  begun,  but  of  restoring 
them  to  their  original  estate.  He  hated  the  whites;  he  deplored 
their  influence  over  his  people;  and  saw  the  inevitable  loss  of 
all  their  hunting  grounds  to  the  Indians,  and  their  style  of  life. 
He  was  a  savage,  and  wanted  to  continue  to  be,  and  have  all  his 
tribes  with  him  continue  as  they  had  been.  His  name  was 
Tecumseh,  or  "The  Crouching  Panther." 

He  had  a  brother  of  equal  ability  and  of  equal  devotedness 
to  Indian  life  and  history,  who  was  a  man  of  fervid  imagination, 
A  religious  man,  a  great  orator  who  held  a  powerful  sway  over 
his  people  by  his  great  gifts;  and  being  their  medicine  man, 
which  in  their  idea  was  equivalent  to  being  a  magician,  he  had 
atill  greater  influence  over  them.  His  name  was  Olliwacheca, 
which  being  interpreted,  is  "The  Prophet."  The  brothers  were 
in  as  thorough  sympathy  as  were  Moses  and  Aaron,  and  bore  a 
similar  relation  to  each  other.  They  conceived  the  idea  of 
being  the  deliverers  of  their  people  from  their  subjection  to  the 
whites. 

They  began  their  career  by  preaching  to  the  tribes  immedi- 
ately about  them,  their  doctrines  of  fidelity  to  ancient  Indian 
customs  and  resistance  of  the  customs  of  the  whites  —  especially 
the  custom  of  drinking  whisky.  Olliwacheca  was  a  fierce  teeto- 
taler, and  harangued  his  people  eloquently  in  its  favor,  so 
much  so  that  all  who  came  under  his  influence  became  teeto- 
talers and  rejected  whisky  as  the  fire-water  of  the  Evil  Spirit. 
But  they  did  not  stop  with  this,  but  secretly  aroused  them  to 
prepare  for  desperate 'resistance.  It  was  Tecumseh's  plan  to 
arouse  and  unite  all  the  Indian  tribes  far  and  near,  to  form  a 
great  army  of  resistance,  and  to  use  all  the  methods  of  Indian 
warfare  to  beat  back  the  encroachments  of  their  white  enemies. 
To  this  end  the  two  brothers  visited  and  preached  and  planned 
that  they  might  inaugurate  their  great  movement  with  such 


284  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

force  as  should  strike  alarm  to  all  the  white  frontier  settle- 
ments, for  some  years. 

In  the  summer  of  1808,  Olliwacheca  gathered  an  encamp- 
ment on  the  banks  of  the  Tippecanoe  river,  a  tributary  of  the 
Wabash.  To  deceive  the  government  as  to  their  plans,  the 
prophet  proposed  to  visit  the  governor  and  make  a  speech  to 
him,  and  hold  some  of  his  religious  meetings  in  his  presence. 
He  came,  with  a  large  number  of  his  devoted  folloAvers.  He 
delivered  his  speech,  and  made  frequent  addresses  to  his  associ- 
ates on  the  evils  of  war  and  whisky  drinking.  He  had  so 
thoroughly  indoctrinated  them  against  whisky,  that  no  persua- 
sion could  induce  them  to  drink.  Rumors  increased  among  the 
whites,  that  the  Indians  were  preparing  for  war.  Anxious  to 
know  the  exact  facts  about  their  movement,  Governor  Harrison 
sent  for  both  Tecumseh  and  the  prophet  to  visit  him.  Tecum- 
seh  visited  Vincennes,  at  length,  to  pay  his  respects  to  the  gov- 
ernor. He  went  with  four  hundred  plumed  and  painted  war- 
riors, and  held  a  council  on  the  twelfth  of  August,  1809.  The 
governor  had  not  invited  such  an  army,  and  was  not  prepared  to 
make  an  equal  demonstration.  He  gathered  the  judges  of  the 
court,  a  few  army  officers,  a  number  of  citizens,  and  a  small 
body  guard,  consisting  of  a  sergeant  and  twelve  men,  and  cheer- 
fully met  the  savage  chief  and  his  warriors,  as  though  they  had 
come  on  the  most  peaceful  of  missions.  When  the  high  cer- 
emonies brought  the  time,  Tecumseh  affirmed,  in  a  dignified 
speech,  his  peaceful  intentions ;  but  declared  that  he  proposed 
to  combine  all  the  tribes,  to  stop  the  further  encroachments  of 
the  whites ;  that  no  more  land  should  be  sold  to  them  without 
the  consent  of  all  the  tribes ;  and  that  the  chiefs  who  had  lately 
sold  land  to  the  United  States,  should  be  put  to  death. 

The  governor,  in  his  reply,  remonstrated  strongly  against  the 
murder  of  the  chiefs.  Tecumseh  interrupting  him  in  angry 
tones  and  threatening  gestures,  accused  him  of  having  cheated 
the  Indians.  The  warriors,  who  had  been  squatted  on  the 
ground,  caught  the  spirit,  ro'se  up  and  brandished  their  clubs. 
The  governor  drew  his  sword.  The  army  officers  drew  around 
him ;  the  guard  presented  their  arms  ready  to  fire.  The  gov- 


WILLIAM   HENRY   HARRISON  285 

ernor  calmly  ordered  all  to  be  quiet.  Then,  turning  to  Tecum- 
seh, told  him  he  should  hold  no  further  intercourse  with  him, 
but  to  go  in  peace  from  their  council-fire.  The  chief  and  his 
warriors  retired ;  but  from  this  time  the  governor  knew  that 
there  was  fire  in  the  forests  and  danger  ahead. 

That  night,  the  militia  of  Vincennes  was  under  arms,  expect- 
'ing  every  moment  the  bullet  in  the  dark,  and  the  howl  of  the 
savage.  But  the  night  passed  in  quiet. 

The  next  morning  Tecumseh  called  upon  the  governor, 
apologized  for  his  hasty  conduct  the  day  before,  and  repeated 
his  statement  of  no  hostile  intentions;  yet  he  was  firm  in  his 
purpose  to  oppose  any  further  transfer  of  land  without  the  con- 
sent of  all  the  tribes;  and  he  now  affirmed  that  he  and  his  fellow 
chiefs  would  hold  as  null  and  void  the  treaty  which  the  governor 
had  lately  made  at  Fort  Wayne  with  a  few  chiefs. 

A  short  time  after  this  Governor  Harrison  resolved  to  visit 
Tecumseh  at  his  encampment  on  the  Tippecanoe.  He  was 
politely  received,  and  was  informed  in  courteous  language  that 
the  Indians  were  very  unwilling  to  go  to  war  with  the  United 
States;  but  were  resolved  that  the  recently  ceded  land  should 
not  be  given  up;  and  that  no  further  treaties  should  be  made 
without  the  consent  of  all  the  tribes. 

No  further  intercourse  was  held  over  the  matter.  The  chief 
and  the  prophet  were  out  among  the  tribes  holding  meetings 
and  consulting.  In  the  meantime  the  awakened  Indians  of  the 
baser  sort  were  committing  depredations  on  the  settlers,  in  the 
way  of  stealing  horses  and  stock,  breaking  into  houses  and  law- 
lessly plundering  the  farms,  and  annoying  the  white  people  in 
many  ways.  Affairs  were  growing  worse,  indicating  the 
approach  of  a  border  war.  The  people  were  everywhere  anxious 
and  alarmed. 

In  this  state  of  things  the  governor  resolved  to  visit  again 
the  prophet  at  his  encampment  on  the  Tippecanoe.  Tecumseh 
had  gone  south  to  visit  and  consult  with  the  tribes  in  that  part 
of  the  country.  It  was  decided  that  the  governor  should  go 
with  force  enough  to  secure  his  own  safety,  and  at  the  same 
time  overawe  the  savages  somewhat,  with  a  view  to  preventing 


286  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

hostilities.  Nearly  a  thousand  troops  were  gathered  and  put  in 
marching  order  for  this  visit.  This  little  army,  as  the  gov- 
ernor's escort,  moved  out  from  Vincennes  on  the  twenty-eighth  of 
October,  1812.  It  was  accidental,  apparently,  but  this  was  the 
'year  war  was  declared  with  England.  This  Indian  disturbance 
had  been  fermenting  about  as  long  as  that  with  England.  And 
this  seemed  to  be  independent  of  that. 

The  movement  of  the  army  was  cautious,  being  always  ready 
to  form  instantly  into  a  line  of  attack  or  a  solid  body  of  defense. 
It  moved  along  an  Indian  trail,  in  two  lines  of  march,  near 
enough  to  come  quickly  together  if  attacked.  Early  in  Novem- 
ber the  governor  and  his  escort  reached  the  valley  of  the  Tippe- 
canoe.  Very  soon  after  they  began  to  observe  bands  of  Indians 
prowling  about  at  a  distance.  When  the  army  had  readier 
within  three  miles  of  the  town,  three  Indians  of  rank  mac.^ 
their  appearance  and  inquired  why  the  governor  was  approach- 
ing their  town  in  such  hostile  array?  After  a  short  conference, 
arrangements  were  made  for  a  council-fire  on  the  next  day  to 
agree  on  terms  of  amity  and  peace. 

The  governor  was  too  well  acquainted  with  the  Indian  char- 
acter to  take  this  as  any  indication  of  what  they  intended  to  do; 
so  he  made  every  provision  for  a  night  attack.  His  little  army 
was  formed  into  a  solid  body,  the  dragoons  in  the  center.  Every 
man  was  ordered  to  sleep  on  his  arms  if  he  slept  at  all;  and 
every  direction  was  given,  as  to  their  action  in  case  of  an  attack. 

The  wakeful  governor  rose  between  three  and  four  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  and  was  sitting  by  the  embers  of  the  last  night's  fire, 
talking  low  with  his  aides.  It  was  a  dark,  cold,  cloudy,  almost 
rainy  morning.  Just  then  the  Indians  in  force  had  crept  close 
to  them,  and  with  a  yell  and  war-whoop  fierce  enough  to  rend 
the  forest  with  dismay,  poured  into  them  a  volley  of  bullets,  and 
kept  up  their  work  of  death  and  alarm.  But  the  camp-fires, 
which  had  served  to  light  the  savages  to  their  prey,  were  at  once 
put  out,  and  then  Harrison's  men  rose  and  stood  in  their  tracks 
and  poured  an  incessant  fire  into  the  places  where  flashed  the 
Indian  guns.  As  soon  as  it  was  light  enough  to  see  to  move, 


WILLIAM   HENRY  HARRISON.  287 

they  made  a  simultaneous  charge  into  the  woods  and  among  the 
Indians  and  made  fearful  slaughter  in  their  midst. 

The  poor  savages  soon  learned  that  the  prophet's  predictions 
that  the  white  men's  bullets  would  not  hurt  them,  were  not  true. 
They  soon  took  alarm  and  many  of  them  fled  to  a  swamp,  where 
the  governor's  soldiers  followed  them  and  made  fearful  havoc 
among  them.  They  lost  sixty-one  dead  upon  the  field  and  one 
hundred  and  twenty  bleeding  and  helpless.  The  prophet  was 
present  to  see  the  rout  and  defeat  of  his  select  warriors.  Harri- 
son lost  nearly  as  many,  but  his  little  army  was  intact  and  as 
intrepid  as  when  it  began  the  bloody  work. 

After  burying  the  dead,  the  army  destroyed  the  town  and 
everything  that  could  aid  the  Indians  in  their  further  hostilities 
and  then  returned  to  Vincennes. 

This  battle  afforded  the  chorus  for  the  campaign  song  that 
did  not  a  little  in  the  election  of  Mr.  Harrison  to  the  presidency, 
later  in  life.  He  little  dreamed  then  of  the  use  that  would 
be  made  of  it. 

This  battle  would  have  nipped  in  the  bud  this  great  revolt 
of  all  the  tribes  which  Tecumseh  had  so  long  worked  hard  to 
bring  about,  had  it  not  been  for  the  English  using  their  influ- 
ence to  fan  its  dying  flame.  The  tribes  began  at  once  to  sue  for 
peace  and  a  good  understanding,  but  Tecumseh  returned  from 
his  southern  tour  and,  joining  with  the  English,  kept  up  the 
war  spirit  toward  the  United  States. 

The  war  with  England  had  now  taken  on  a  fierce  aspect. 
Our  whole  northern  frontier  was  exposed  to  incursions  from 
Canada.  The  St.  Lawrence  river  and  the  lakes  afforded  a  high- 
way for  the  enemies'  ships,  and  through  that  highway  he  could 
come  into  the  heart  of  the  Indian  territory.  He  at  once  availed 
himself  of  that  opportunity.  In  the  revolutionary  war,  England 
allied  herself  with  the  savages  of  the  forest,  to  lay  waste  the  set- 
tlements of  the  frontier.  So  now,  she  revived  her  old  policy, 
and  Tecumseh's  revolt  favored  her  wishes.  She  made  an  ally 
of  him. 

The  battle  of  Tippecanoe  was  on  the  seventh  of  November 
1811. 


288  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 


COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF. 

In  September,  1812,  Governor  Harrison  was  made  com- 
mander of  all  the  forces  of  the  northwest.  He  at  once  turned 
his  attention  toward  the  recapture  of  the  fort  at  Detroit,  which 
General  Hull  had  ignominiously  surrendered.  That  fort  was 
the  British  key  to  the  northwest.  Between  him  and  that  point 
was  a  body  of  Indians  on  the  Maumee.  He  ordered  the  scattered 
forces,  in  southern  and  central  Ohio,  to  move  toward  Detroit. 
His  plan  was  to  overcome  the  Indians,  gather  at  and  .retake  the 
fort  at  Detroit,  and  so  get  repossession  of  the  peninsula  of  Mich- 
igan. In  this  way  he  would  make  it  difficult  for  the  British  to 
cooperate  with  the  Indians.  The  lateness  of  the  season  and  the 
early  autumn  rains  filling  the  swamps  and  streams,  made  it 
impossible  to  carry  his  plans  immediately  into  effect.  A  portion 
of  his  forces  met  the  Indians  on  the  Maumee  and  were  almost 
destroyed.  This  disaster  helped  to  retard  the  movement  upon 
Detroit.  In  the  meantime,  the  Indians  all  along  the  frontier 
let  loose  their  dogs  of  savage  warfare  upon  the  scattered  settle- 
ments. Robbing,  plundering,  killing,  scalping,  burning,  were 
everywhere  going  on.  The  men  from  the  settlements  had  for 
the  most  part  gathered  into  Harrison's  army,  which  had  to  wait 
for  winter  to  freeze  up  the  swamps,  so  it  might  make  its  way  to 
Detroit.  It  was  a  terrible  winter  to  the  exposed  settlements 

In  the  spring  the  British  had  come  to  the  assistance  of  the 
Indians  on  the  Maumee,  and  the  way  of  Harrison  was  hedged  by 
this  union  under  Proctor  and  Tecumseh.  Severe  fighting  ensued 
with  varied  results,  from  time  to  time  for  some  months.  Rein- 
forcements continued  to  come  from  Kentucky,  under  Governor 
Shelby,  and  from  Ohio,  to  Harrison's  army.  Affairs  grew  more 
and  more  favorable  to  Harrison,  and  the  prospect  looked  encour- 
aging for  sweeping  the  valley  of  the  Maumee  to  the  lake. 

Just  at  this  juncture  of  affairs  Commodore  Perry  gained  his 
great  battle  on  Lake  Erie,  September  tenth,  1813,  which  secured 
to  the  United  States  the  command  of  the  lake  as  the  gateway  to 
the  northwest. 

On  the  twenty-seventh  of  September,  Harrison  and  his  army 


WILLIAM   HENRY   HARRISON.  289 

embarked  on  Perry's  ships,  to  cross  the  lake  to  the  Canada  shore 
in  pursuit  of  Proctor  and  Tecumseh,  who  had  gone  to  the  valley 
of  the  Thames.  "  On  the  twenty-ninth  Harrison  was  at  Sand- 
wich, and  McArthur  took  possession  of  Detroit  and  the  territory 
of  Michigan." 

"  On  the  second  of  October  the  Americans  began  their  march  in 
pursuit  of  Proctor,  whom  they  overtook  on  the  fifth  "  in  the  valley 
of  the  Thames  river.  Here  was  a  concentration  of  the  most  of  the 
land  forces  on  both  sides,  Commodore  Perry  acting  as  one  of 
General  Harrison's  aides.  The  forces  on  both  sides  were  arranged 
with  deliberation.  The  battle  was  brief  but  decisive,  on  account 
of  a  wedge  of  dragoons  which  Harrison  formed  in  the  beginning, 
of  men  accustomed  from  their  youth  up  to  ride  through  the 
woods  musket  in  hand.  They  broke  the  British  line  and  put  it 
into  confusion  in  their  first  charge,  and  it  could  not  recover.  It 
soon  became  a  rout.  The  Indians  made  a  more  stubborn 
resistance  and  held  out  longer;  but  Tecumseh  falling  dead,  they 
took  alarm  and  became  a  rout  also.  The  victory  to  the  Ameri- 
cans was  complete.  General  Harrison  had  urged  upon  Congress 
from  the  beginning  of  the  war,  the  construction  of  a  fleet  of 
gunboats  to  command  Lake  Erie.  Their  importance  was  demon- 
strated in  Perry's  battle,  which  was  a  part  of  General  Harrison's 
campaign.  That,  followed  so  closely  by  the  battle  of  the 
Thames,  brought  Harrison's  part  of  the  war  to  a  close. 

Congress  recognized  the  great  value  of  General  Harrison's 
services,  in  the  following  resolution: 

"Resolved,  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Eepresentatives  of 
the  United  States  of  America  in  Congress  assembled,  that  the 
thanks  of  Congress  be  and  they  are  hereby  presented  to  Major- 
General  William  Henry  Harrison  and  Isaac  Shelby,  late  governor 
of  Kentucky,  and  through  them  to  the  officers  and  men  of  their 
command,  for  their  gallant  and  good  conduct  in  defeating  the 
combined  British  and  Indian  forces  under  Major-General  Proc- 
tor, on  the  Thames  in  Upper  Canada,  on  the  fifth  day  of  Octo- 
ber, 1813,  capturing  the  British  army,  with  their  baggage,  camp 
equipage  and  artillery;  and,  that  the  president  of  the  United 
States  be  requested  to  cause  two  gold  medals  to  be  struck, 
19 


290  OtJK   PRESIDENTS. 

emblematical  of  this  triumph,  and  presented  to  General  Har- 
rison and  Isaac  Shelby,  late  governor  of  Kentucky." 

From  the  beginning  of  his  career  as  a  soldier,  his  services 
were  of  great  practical  value  to  his  country,  increasing  con- 
stantly, till  now  they  brought  peace  to  the  great  northwest. 

His  work  so  nobly  done,  he  repaired  to  Washington  and 
resigned  his  office  as  major  general  of  the  armies,  on  account  of 
some  want  of  harmony  of  views  with  the  secretary  of  war, 
greatly  to  the  regret  of  President  Madison.  He  repaired  to  his 
home  on  the  Ohio,  for  the  domestic  repose  which  of  all  things 
he  most  enjoyed.  But  the  following  summer,  the  president 
appointed  him  at  the  head  of  a  commission  on  Indian  affairs, 
with  Governor  Shelby  and  General  Cass  as  his  associates. 

In  1816,  he  was  elected  to  the  House  of  Representatives  in 
Congress,  from  Ohio.  He  had  but  just  taken  his  seat  when  his 
conduct  in  the  war  was  called  in  question.  No  more  than 
Washington  did  he  escape  traducers.  But  he  triumphantly 
vindicated  his  conduct. 

While  in  Congress,  he  labored  for  a  reform  in  the  militia, 
which  he  did  not  accomplish ;  and  for  pensions  for  the  soldiers 
of  the  revolution  and  the  late  war,  which  he  did  secure,  which 
has  carried  comfort  and  joy  to  multitudes  of  soldiers'  homes,  and 
established  the  custom  which  makes  the  United  States  the  best 
country  in  the  world  to  its  defenders.  Let  all  pensioned 
soldiers  remember  General  Harrison  with  gratitude. 

When  General  Harrison  was  in  Congress,  the  celebrated  res- 
olutions of  censure  of  General  Jackson,  for  his  taking  possession 
of  Spanish  territory,  and  hanging  two  British  subjects,  in  the 
Seminole  war,  were  offered.  Harrison  supported  the  resolutions 
in  an  elaborate  and  powerful  speech,  yet  paid  a  high  tribute  to 
the  patriotism  and  noble  intentions  of  the  impetuous  and  reso- 
lute general.  The  following  extract  from  that  speech,  which  is 
a  choice  specimen  of  the  delicate  and  dextrous  use  of  elegant 
English,  will  show  the  spirit  and  refined  talent  of  the  great 
patriot. 

"  I  am  sure,  sir,  that  it  is  not  the  intention  of  any  gentleman 
upon  this  floor,  to  rob  General  Jackson  of  a  single  ray  of  glory ; 


WILLIAM   HENRY  HARBISON.  291 

much  less,  to  wound  his  feelings  or  injure  his  reputation.  If 
the  resolutions  pass,  I  would  address  him  thus:  'In  the  per- 
formance of  a  sacred  duty,  imposed  by  their  construction  of  the 
constitution,  the  representatives  of  the  people  have  found  it 
necessary  to  disapprove  of  a  single  act  of  your  brilliant  career. 
They  have  done  it  in  the  full  conviction  that  the  hero  who  has 
guarded  her  rights  in  the  field,  will  bow  with  reverence  to  the 
civil  institutions  of  his  country  ;  that  he  has  admitted  as  his 
creed,  that  the  character  of  the  soldier  can  never  be  complete 
without  eternal  reverence  to  the  character  of  the  citizen.  Go, 
gallant  chief,  and  bear  with  you  the  gratitude  of  your  country ; 
go  under  the  full  conviction,  that  as  her  glory  is  identified  with 
yours,  she  has  nothing  more  dear  to  her  than  her  laws,  nothing 
more  sacred  than  her  constitution.  Even  an  unintentional  error 
shall  be  sanctified  to  her  service.  It  will  teach  posterity  that 
the  government  which  could  disapprove  the  conduct  of  a  Mar- 
cellus,  will  have  the  fortitude  to  crush  the  vices  of  a  Marius.' ' 
Noble  words,  classic  in  finish,  Christian  in  morality  ! 

But  Jackson  was  not  equal  to  their  comprehension.  He 
never  forgave  Harrison  for  their  utterance. 

In  1819  Mr.  Harrison  was  elected  to  the  Senate  of  Ohio;  in 
1824  one  of  the  presidential  electors  of  that  state;  in  1829  was 
appointed  minister  to  the  republic  of  Columbia;  in  1836  was 
named  as  a  candidate  for  the  presidency,  and  in  1840  was  elected 
in  opposition  to  Van  Buren,  who  ran  for  a  second  term. 

The  Harrison  campaign  was  one  of  the  most  exciting  ever 
known  in  this  country.  The  bad  effects  of  Jackson's  and  Van 
Buren's  financial  policy  had  paralyzed  the  business  of  the  coun- 
try, and  little  hope  of  any  prosperity  or  security  for  business 
was  to  be  seen  by  the  wisest  financiers.  This  produced  the 
union  of  all  the  conservative  and  opposition  elements  in  the 
formation  of  the  whig  party.  The  combination  was  so  strong, 
and  the  determination  to  rout  the  Jackson  dynasty  so  resolute, 
that  the  campaign  became  a  blaze  of  popular  enthusiasm.  Mass 
meetings,  processions,  songs,  badges,  and  every  form  of  power- 
ful popular  demonstration,  became  the  order  of  the  day.  Log 
cabins  were  drawn  at  the  head  of  immense  processions  through 


292  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

all  the  cities  and  villages  of  the  country.  It  was  remembered 
for  years  as  the  log-cabin  campaign.  It  was  really  the  revolt  of 
the  country  against  the  financial  mistakes  of  the  two  previous 
administrations.  Harrison  was  elected,  and  on  the  fourth  of 
March,  1841,  was  inaugurated.  John  Tyler,  of  Virginia,  was 
his  vice-president.  He  selected  a  strong  cabinet,  with  Daniel 
Webster,  of  Massachusetts,  secretary  of  state.  On  the  seventeenth 
of  March  he  issued  a  proclamation  for  an  extra  session  of  Con- 
gress, chiefly  to  consider  and  try  to  remedy  the  deplorable  con- 
dition of  the  finances  of  the  country.  It  was  called  for  the  last 
Monday  in  May. 

A  few  days  after  President  Harrison  began  to  suffer  from  a 
severe  cold.  It  grew  worse,  and  he  was  attacked  with  a  severe 
chill,  followed  by  a  fever.  This  again  was  followed  by  a  bilious 
pleurisy,  which,  on  the  fourth  of  April,  terminated  his  life. 
His  death  shocked  the  nation.  Hardly  since  the  days  of  Wash- 
ington had  any  man  so  held  the  hearts  and  hopes  of  the  people. 
His  excellent  character,  his  devoted  patriotism,  his  admirable 
self-poise,  his  great  talents  and  uniform  success  through  a  long 
life  of  varied  public  services,  had  created  great  expectations  at  a 
time  when  all  these  qualities  were  greatly  needed  to  improve  the 
ill  conditions  under  which  the  country  was  suffering. 

His  funeral  was  held  on  the  seventh  of  April,  1841,  at 
Washington;  but  public  funereal  honors  were  awarded  him  in 
churches,  halls  and  public  buildings  in  every  part  of  the  country. 
He  lived  just  one  month  after  his  inauguration. 


f  HE  CRAVE  OF  WILLIAM  IENRY  HARRISON. 


Fifteen  miles  west  of  Cincinnati,  on  the  summit  of  a  hillock 
at  North  Bend,  in  a  brick  vault,  rest  the  remains  of  William 
Henry  Harrison.  Those  of  his  wife  and  children  repose  with 
them.  A  large  flat  stone,  two  or  three  feet  above  the  surface  of 
the  earth,  covers  the  vault.  No  monument  or  slab  is  erected. 
No  inscription  telling  who  sleeps  there,  or  indicating  a  surviv- 


WILLIAM    HENRY    HARRISON.  293 

ing  friend  to  keep  the  place  in  memory,  has  been  made.  A 
thick  undergrowth  covers  the  elevation,  and  evergreens  cluster 
about  the  spot. 

Reflections  at  the  graves  of  the  great  and  honored  can  hardly 
be  crowded  out  from  the  minds  of  the  living  as  they  stand  by 
honored  dust.  Here  is  the  dust  of  Harrison,  whose  eyes,  in  his 
youth,  saw  all  the  valleys  of  the  Ohio  and  the  Miamis  covered 
with  the  "forest  primeval."  These  rounded  hills  and  hollowed 
valleys  were  the  homes  of  the  red  men  and  the  wild  animals. 
Nature  ran  riot  in  all  her  wild  ways  through  this  continent  of 
forest.  Here  came  this  youth  where  few  had  come  before  him, 
educated,  refined,  aspiring,  to  begin  his  manhood  in  the  midst 
of  every  possible  obstacle  to  the  attainment  of  what  he  most 
coveted  —  educated  society,  elevated  pursuits,  a  peaceful  home 
and  an  honored  age.  How  could  he  expect  to  find  these  here? 
And  yet  he  came  with  a  great  hope  and  a  courage  that  braved 
everything.  He  foresaw  the  possibilities  of  this  rich  country. 
He  believed  in  the  free  institutions  which  his  father  and  Wash- 
ington and  their  compeers  had  founded.  He  believed  in 
humanity  and  righteous  principles  and  honorable  conduct ;  and 
so  he  came  and  lived  nobly,  and  opened  a  highway  for  the 
coming  generations.  And  how  they  have  come !  Here  is  the 
queen  city  of  the  west  where  was  only  a  hamlet  when  he  came. 
Here  are  the  great  states  of  Ohio  and  Indiana,  where  he  hunted 
Indians,  and,  later  in  life,  surveyed  state,  county  and  township 
lines.  Here  are  beautiful  farms  where  were  swamps  and 
morasses  when  he  first  searched  for  dry  ways  in  these  woods. 
Here  are  fifty  millions  of  people  in  this  young  republic  which 
had  only  three  then.  He  came  and  opened  the  way  for  this 
change.  Did  he  live  jn  vain?  No.  He  was  a  John  the  Baptist 
in  this  wilderness,  a  pioneer  whom  a  host  followed.  It  is  given 
to  but  few  to  have  a  part  in  such  great  changes.  His  labors  and 
struggles  all  told  grandly  for  the  future.  His  plantings  have 
produced  a  rich  harvest.  To-day  we  can  give  him  honor  and 
speak  his  name  by  the  side  of  his  grave  with  profound  respect. 
He  went  early  into  the  forest,  and  because  he  there  lived  nobljr 
his  country  called  him  to  its  highest  position  of  honor. 


294 


OUR   PRESIDENTS. 


Is  there  less  for  us  to  live  for?  By  no  means.  The  country 
is  yet  new.  Opportunity  still  is  open  for  grand  life.  We  may 
not  fight  Indians,  but  we  may  fight  evils.  We  may  not  clear 
away  the  forests,  but  we  may  clear  away  the  ignorance  and  vices 
of  society.  There  is  as  much  for  us  to  do  as  there  was  for  him. 
There  are  more  to  copy  our  example,  more  to  improve  upon  our 
doings,  more  to  take  up  our  work  where  we  leave  it.  This 
silent  grave  may  be  an  eloquent  preacher  of  life  and  duty  and 
destiny,  if  we  will  but  hear  its  still,  small  voice  of  the  spirit,, 
Let  us  go  away  to  live  more  nobly. 


~  linn  1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 


CHAPTER  XI. 


JOHN  TYLER 

TENTH  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

ANCESTRY. 

•IKE  the  other  presidents  from  Virginia,  John  Tyler 
had  a  noble  ancestry.  He  came  into  the  world  with  an 
impetus  of  good  blood  and  brain  power,  and  came  into 
good  social  surroundings.  He  was  rocked  in  the  cradle 
of  intelligence ;  breathed  the  atmosphere  of  culture;  and 
warmed  in  his  infancy  at  the  fire  of  patriotism. 
His  ancestors  were  among  the  early  English  settlers  in  Vir- 
ginia and  were  of  the  same  social  standing  as  the  Washingtons, 
Lees,  Wythes,  Madisons  and  Harrisons.  It  is  understood  that 
they  were  decendants  of  the  celebrated  Walter  or  Wat  Tyler,  of 
the  fourteenth  century,  who  led  an  insurrection  in  England,  in 
defense  of  the  rights  of  the  people. 

The  grandfather  of  the  president,  John  Tyler,  was  marshal 
of  the  colony  under  the  British  crown  for  many  years,  until  his 
death,  which  did  not  occur  till  after  the  troubles  occasioned  by 
the  Stamp  act.  He  died  possessed  of  a  large  estate  of  land  in 
and  about  Williamsburg,  which  put  his  family  into  good  financial 
circumstances. 

The  father  of  the  president,  John  Tyler,  again  took  an  active 
part  in  laying  before  the  king  and  parliament  the  grievances  of 
the  colonies,  and  in  seeking  relief  therefrom.  He  became  a 

295 


296  OUK    PRESIDENTS. 

distinguished  patriot;  was  speaker  of  the  house  of  delegates, 
governor  of  the  state,  and  judge  of  one  of  the  highest  courts. 
At  the  opening  of  the  war  of  1812,  President  Madison  made 
him  judge  of  the  court  of  admiralty.  In  February,  1813,  he 
died,  full  of  years  and  honors,  leaving  three  sons;  Wat,  John 
and  William,  to  bear  on  his  name  and  continue  his  work  for 
home  and  country. 

BIRTH   AND   BOYHOOD. 

John  Tyler,  the  president,  was  born  in  Charles  City  county, 
Virginia,  March  20,  1790,  just  after  the  adoption  of  the  con- 
stitution, in  the  second  year  of  AVashington's  administration. 
He  was  among  the  early  children  of  the  young  nation  and  had 
wrought  into  his  nat  ire  something  of  the  spirit  of  which  it  was 
born.  His  parents  ,  nd  the  people  of  their  community  were 
flaming  patriots.  His  early  life,  at  home,  at  school,  and  among 
his  playfellows,  was  a  growth  among  patriotic  influences.  The 
great  names  of  his  state  were  the  great  names  of  his  country, 
and  they  became  familiar  to  his  youthful  ears.  The  history  of 
those  great  times  was  the'conversation  of  the  older  people  among 
whom  he  was  reared.  He  was  a  precocious  child,  grew  quick 
and  ripened  early — too  precocious  for  great  permanent  strength, 
breadth,  and  stability  of  mind.  His  quick  nature  absorbed  the 
opinions  and  the  character  of  the  life  about  him;  before  he  had 
time  or  knowlege  to  know  why  he  had  accepted  the  political 
biases  of  his  associates.  His  plastic  mind  filled  quickly  the 
mould  which  others  made  for  it. 

His  early  education  was  in  the  schools  of  his  neighborhood. 
He  moved  on  rapidly,  and  at  twelve  years  of  age  entered 
William  and  Mary  college.  Of  course  the  preparation  was  but  a 
boy's  preparation,  and  indicates  both  his  extreme  brightness, 
and  that  the  requirements  of  the  college  for  entrance  were  not 
such  as  are  now  made  by  all  colleges.  He  graduated  at  seven- 
teen, at  about  the  age  at  which  bright,  well-fitted  boys  ought  to 
enter.  The  subject  of  his  address  at  his  graduation  was 
"  Female  Education."  It  would  be  interesting  to  read  it  now  and 
compare  it  with  the  advanced  ideas  and  practices  of  our  time  on 


that  subject,  yet  from  the  nature  of  his  mind,  we  may  infer  that 
he  had  advanced  views,  though  no  chronicler  has  preserved  them. 
Young  Tyler  studied  law  two  years,  from  seventeen  to  nine- 
teen, under  the  instruction  of  his  father  and  Edmund  Randolph, 
when  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  He  at  once  began  practice, 
and  in  three  months  there  was  scarcely  a  disputable  case  on  the 
docket  in  which  he  was  not  retained.  He  became  a  youthful 
legal  prodigy.  Everybody  who  went  to  court  must  have  the  boy 
lawyer  to  lead  him  through  the  intricacies  of  law.  John  Quincy 
Adams  was  four  years  in  getting  any  practice,  while  John  Tyler 
was  overrun  with  practice  in  four  months.  Later  in  life  the 
difference  was  the  other  way. 

POLITICAL   CAREER. 

At  twenty,  our  brilliant,  youthful  lawyer  was  proposed  as  a 
candidate  for  the  legislature,  but  declined.  •  The  next  year, 
when  twenty-one,  he  was  elected.  He  at  once  entered  actively 
into  the  business  and  political  interests  of  the  state  and  the 
times.  By  absorption  he  was  a  Jeffersonian.  The  great  inter- 
ests of  the  South,  as  they  were  understood  about  him,  were  held 
sacred  by  those  of  that  line  of  politics. 

The  second  war  with  England  came  right  on,  and  he  sup- 
ported it  with  enthusiasm.-  He  was  a  zealous  advocate  of  Mr. 
Madison's  conduct  of  the  war.  While  the  British  forces  were 
in  the  Chesapeake  bay,  Mr.  Tyler  raised  a  voluntee*-  company 
and  strove  to  organize  the  militia  of  his  neighborhood  and  enlist 
them  against  the  invaders,  but  they  were  driven  out  before  his 
plans  were  consummated,  and  his  military  genius  failed  of 
development. 

He  was  re-elected  to  the  legislature  for  a  number  of  years, 
and  stoutly  maintained  the  principles  of  the  party.  Among  its 
teachings  was  the  doctrine  of  the  "Eight of  Instruction," which 
was  that  when  a  state  instructed  its  members  how  to  act  on  a 
given  subject,  they  were  under  obligation  to  obey  the  instruc- 
tion, even  against  their  personal  convictions.  This  matter  came 
up  anew  while  he  was  in  the  state  legislature.  Messrs.  Giles  and. 
Brent  were  senators  in  Congress  from  Virginia,  and  had  been 


298  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

instructed  by  their  state  legislature  to  vote  against  a  renewal  of 
the  charter  of  the  United  States  bank,  when  it  should  come  up. 
Mr.  Brent  disobeyed.  Mr.  Tyler  then  introduced  a  resolution 
of  censure  against  the  self-acting  senator,  making  a  strong 
speech  in  favor  of  the  resolution,  and  laying  it  down  as  a  prin- 
ciple that  any  person  accepting  the  office  of  senator  from  the 
state  of  Virginia  obligated  himself  to  conform  to  this  rule.  It 
afterward  came  in  his  way. 

In  1815  Mr.  Tyler  was  elected  as  a  member  of  the  executive 
council,  and  served  until  the  autumn  of  1816,  when,  after  an 
excited  election,  he  was  chosen  to  fill  a  vacancy  in  Congress. 
His  opponent  in  this  contest  was  Andrew  Stevenson,  a  politician 
of  the  same  school.  When  he  took  his  seat,  in  December,  he 
was  twenty-six  and  a  half  years  old.  The  next  year  he  was 
re-elected  by  a  strong  majority.  In  1819  he  was  elected  again. 

In  Congress  he  was  a  strict  partisan  of  the  southern  demo- 
cratic style;  maintained  the  high  states  rights  doctrines;  the 
federative  notion  of  the  union;  the  pro-slavery  doctrines  of  the 
South,  which  sought  to  extend  the  slave  territory  and  power. 
He  took  an  active  part  in  the  debate  on  the  Missouri  question, 
maintaining  with  great  zeal  the  southern  side,  as  though  it  had 
been  the  side  of  patriotism,  of  right  and  humanity.  He  voted 
to  censure  General  Jackson  for  his  abuse  of  his  authority  in  the 
Seminole  war;  opposed  a  protective  tariff,  internal  improve- 
ments by  the  general  government,  and  a  national  bank.  He 
was  over-zealous  in  his  promulgation  of  the  doctrines  of  his 
party  and  section  of  the  country,  and  broke  down  his  health;  so 
he  was  obliged  to  resign  and  retire  to  his  country  estate  to 
recruit. 

In  the  fall  of  1823  he  went  again  to  the  Virginia  legislature. 
In  his  state  legislature  he  urged  internal  improvements  by  the 
state,  and  introduced  bills  to  this  end.  He  lost  no  opportunity 
to  magnify  the  state ;  appealed  to  state  pride  and  cupidity  to 
introduce  improvements  of  every  kind  into  the  state  by  state 
authority  and  at  state  expense.  He  was  chagrined  that  other 
states  were  surpassing  Virginia  in  population,  wealth  and  enter- 
prise, and  he  sought  to  remedy  the  evil  by  state  improvements. 


JOHN  TYLER.  299 

He  sought  in  his  legislative  speeches  to  arouse  Virginians  to  a 
sense  of  their  lethargy  and  the  need  of  action  that  their  state 
should  not  be  left  behind  in  the  race  for  prosperity  and  power. 
His  appeals  were  not  without  success,  for  many  of  the  finest 
public  works  in  the  state  were  the  result  of  his  labors.  Had  his 
political  philosophy  for  the  whole  country  been  as  comprehen- 
sive and  sound  as  was  his  zeal  for  Virginia,  he  would  have  won 
imperishable  laurels.  In  his  state  he  showed  the  qualities  of  a 
statesman,  and  the  people  appreciated  them.  Here  his  politics 
did  not  fetter  him. 

In  December,  1825,  Mr.  Tyler  was  elected  governor  of  Vir- 
ginia, and  the  next  year  was  re-elected.  His  success  as  a  state 
legislator  had  won  him  great  popularity. 

John  Eandolph  was  then  one  of  Virginia's  United  States 
Senators.  His  eccentric  genius,  singularity  and  general  uncer- 
tainty, did  not  make  him  popular.  He  often  hurt  his  friends 
and  his  cause.  Many  Virginia  democrats  regretted  his  eccen- 
tricities and  mistakes.  And  yet  a  certain  wild  genius  for  public 
speech  made  him  a  hard  man  to  displace.  The  most  consider- 
ate men  opposed  to  him,  believed  that  Governor  Tyler  could  be 
elected  in  opposition  to  him.  The  movement  was  made  and 
the  governor  was  elected  to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States. 
A  public  dinner  was  given  him;  speeches  were  made;  he  made 
one  himself  in  which  he  glorified  his  political  principles,  and 
announce'd  himself  as  opposed  to  the  president,  John  Quincy 
Adams.  Adams'  message  he  said,  "  Had  in  it  an  almost  total 
disregard  of  the  federative  principle."  His  whole  political 
career  had  stood  for  the  "federative  principle,"  that  is,  that 
the  Union  is  a  confederacy  of  the  several  separate  states  to 
remain  while  they  are  satisfied,  and  to  fall  apart  one  by  one  as 
they  came  in,  when  tney  are  dissatisfied.  This  view  magnified 
the  states  above  the  nation,  made  every  citizen's  supreme 
loyalty  that  to  the  state.  In  the  beginning  the  democratic 
party  favored  this  "federative  principle,"  and  it  was  always 
especially  strong  in  the  South.  The  federalists  regarded  the 
confederation  as  made  by  the  "people  of  the  United  States," 
and  hence  the  Union  as  indissoluble — the  nation  to  be  self- 


300  OUK   PKESIDENTS. 

existent  and  self-defensive  till  some  power  strong  enough  should 
bring  it  to  an  end.  This  was  the  original  and  essential  differ- 
ence between  the  parties.  There  were  other  differences,  but 
this  was  the  vital  one. 

Yet  it  is  worthy  of  note  that  though  this  difference  Avas 
much  discussed  from  the  beginning,  the  federalists  put  their 
principles  into  the  constitution,  at  the  start,  and  though  the 
government  has  much  of  the  time  been  administered  by  demo- 
crats there  has  been  no  permanent  law  or  amendment  enacted 
since,  contrary  to  the  original  federalist  constitution.  The 
essential  principles  which  the  federalists  put  into  the  govern- 
ment at  the  beginning,  have  stood  as  a  wall  against  which  the 
Jeffersonian  opposition  has  beat  in  vain  since.  The  true  democ- 
racy which  stands  for  the  interests  of  the  whole  people,  is  in  a 
strong  government  —  an  indissoluble  union  of  the  whole  people 
—  a  bulwark  against  anarchy  and  misrule  from  within,  and 
enemies  from  without.  Adams  stood  for  this  idea  of  the  gov- 
ernment; Tyler  went  into  the  Senate  to  oppose  it.  It  was  this 
"federative  principle,"  as  Mr.  Tyler  called  it,  which  from  near 
the  beginning,  and  especially  after  his  time,  dwarfed  and  misled 
the  statesmanship  of  the  South  and  of  the  party  which  main- 
tained it.  The  Jeffersonian  party,  though  it  has  always  had 
great  numbers  and  much  of  the  time  been  in  power,  has  never 
moved  a  foundation  or  turret  stone  of  the  government.  The 
statesmanship  which  laid  deep  and  built  strong,  has  been  in 
other  parties;  and  this  chiefly  because  of  the  political  heresies 
that  entered  early  into  the  doctrines  of  this  party. 

As  soon  as  in  Congress  Mr.  Tyler  allied  himself  with  the 
opposition.  Mr.  Adams  was  non-partisan,  and  was  beyond 
question  the  broadest  statesman  of  his  age.  But  his  very 
breadth  spoiled  him  for  the  Virginia  senator.  Mr.  Tyler  lost 
no  occasion  to  magnify  his  views  so  popular  in  his  own  state, 
especially  those  concerning  the  powers  of  the  general  govern- 
ment and  the  commercial  policy  of  the  country. 

When  General  Jackson  came  in  after  Mr.  Adams,  Mr.  Tyler 
gave  a  cheerful  and  sympathetic  support  to  his  administration 
in  the  main.  He  opposed  the  recharter  of  the  national  bank. 


JOHN   TYLEE.  301 

That  was  a  national  institution,  gave  circulation  to  a  national 
currency,  supported  a  national  credit  and  tended  to  make  the 
nation  a  monopoly  over  the  states.  His  doctrine  was  that  the 
states  should  authorize  banking  and  the  emission  of  paper 
money,  and  give  the  country  what  currency  it  had,  save  gold 
and  silver,  which  should  be  the  only  national  money.  The  heart 
of  the  objection  to  the  national  bank  was  the  fact  that  it  fos- 
tered a  nationality  which  overshadowed  state  power.  It  was 
opposed  to  the  "federative  principle."  The  opposition  was 
consistent  with  the  "federative  principle,"  which  contained  the 
seeds  of  nullification,  rebellion,  disunion  and  destruction. 
Nationality  would  not  be  long  possible  under  the  "federative 
principle  "  which  Senator  Tyler  so  magnified. 

Senator  Tyler  opposed  a  protective  tariff  with  great  vehe- 
mence and  show  of  political  learning,  and  made  a  three  days' 
speech  against  it,  which  of  itself  was  enough  to  show  the  fallacy 
of  his  argument;  and  yet  he  contended  for  a  tariff  for  revenue. 
In  his  opposition  he  complained  that  the  tariff  operated  against 
the  South  and  kept  it  poor  and  hindered  it  from  keeping  pace 
with  the  North  in  advancing  in  wealth  and  power.  He  failed  to 
see  that  the  South  was  her  own  hinderance  in  her  slave  labor 
which  made  white  labor  dishonorable,  the  whites  idlers  and 
cumberers  of  the  ground,  prevented  immigration,  invention, 
enterprise,  education  and  civilization.  He  failed  to  see  that 
slavery  prevented  all  skilled  labor,  and,  therefore,  prevented 
manufactures,  commerce  and  business  enterprise,  and  reduced 
society  to  the  dead  level  of  slow  producers  of  raw  material  from 
the  soil  with  hand  labor. 

Could  the  rest  of  the  world  afford  to  wait  for  that  slow  pro- 
cess? Could  the  rest  of  the  world  afford  to  keep  itself  poor  and 
weak  in  enterprise  because  the  South  was  bound  to  so  continue? 
If  he  would  have  looked  as  a  statesman,  instead  of  as  a  Southern 
politician,  he  would  have  seen  all  the  white  people  of  the  North 
busy  in  the  production  of  wealth,  enterprise  and  character, — 
would  have  seen  immigration  pouring  in  from  all  Europe,  with 
money,  muscle,  and  energy,  to  settle  up  states,  broaden  and 
quicken  society,  a  great  variety  of  interests  occupying  the  hands 


302  OUR  PRESIDENTS. 

and  brains  of  enterprising  millions, — would  have  seen  a  nation  • 
building  North  developing  every  kind  of  talent  and  power, 
while  the  South  was  busy  hugging  the  Delilah  of  slavery  and 
arguing  against  the  tariff  and  nationality.  The  truth  was  that 
a  tariff  was  the  upbuilding  agency  of  the  country,  and  it  was 
the  business  of  the  South  to  adjust  itself  to  it,  instead  of  trying 
to  force  its  own  paralysis  of  business  enterprise  upon  the  rest  of 
the  country. 

Senator  Tyler  also  opposed  internal  improvements  by  the 
general  government.  He  did  this  on  the  same  principle  that  he 
opposed  a  national  bank,  and  a  national  tariff,  that  it  encouraged 
nationality  and  reduced  state  supremacy.  In  this  he  was  nar- 
rowed by  his  sectional  and  partisan  ideas  of  the  dignity  of  a 
state  and  the  subserviency  of  the  national  government,  He  did 
not  seem  to  see  that  business,  travel,  society,  education,  know 
no  state  lines,  that  commerce,  agriculture,  and  the  wide  interests 
of  the  nation  know  no  North  or  South,  East  or  West,  much  less 
state  boundaries;  nor  did  he  seem  to  see  that  these  great 
interests  that  concerned  the  good  of  the  whole,  needed  the 
fostering  hand  of  the  general  government,  and  that  good  policy 
and  sound  principles  demanded  that  they  should  have  it. 

It  was  -during  Jackson's  presidency  that  John  C.  Calhoun's 
nullification  scheme  came  to  the  front,  which  was  to  repudiate, 
or  nullify  the  tariff  laws  so  far  as  the  port  of  Charleston  and  the 
state  of  South  Carolina  was  concerned,  so  as  to  let  foreign  goods 
come  in  duty  free.  It  was  simply  rebellion  against  the  laws  of 
the  United  States, —  one  state  resisting  all  the  rest.  Senator 
Tyler  supported  Mr.  Calhoun  and  South  Carolina  in  this  nulli- 
fication of  the  laws  of  his  country.  In  this  he  was  consistent 
with  his  political  theory  of  the  subserviency  of  the  nation  to  the 
state,  and  so  were  Calhoun  and  South  Carolina. 

Jackson  entertained  the  same  general  views  that  Tyler  did, 
and  if  Calhoun  had  been  his  friend  instead  of  his  enemy,  might 
have  taken  a  very  different  view  of  his  nullification;  for  the  law 
stood  very  little  in  the  way  of  his  supreme  desires. 

Senator  Tyler  agreed  with  Jackson  in  his  opposition  to  a 
national  bank,  but  opposed  Jackson's  removal  of  the  deposits 


JOHN  TYLER.  303 

from  the  bank,  on  the  ground  that  it  was  unlawful,  or  a  nulli- 
fication of  the  law. 

In  March,  1835,  Senator  Tyler  was  elected  president  of  the 
Senate  pro  tempore,  by  the  joint  votes  of  the  whigs  and  state- 
rights  senators.  In  February,  1836,  the  legislature  of  Virginia 
passed  a  resolution  instructing  its  senators  "to  vote  for  a  reso- 
lution directing  the  resolution  of  March  28,  1834,  censuring  the 
conduct  of  General  Jackson,  to  be  expunged  from  the  journal  of 
the  Senate."  Mr.  Leigh,  colleague  of  Mr.  Tyler,  refused  to 
obey,  and  gave  his  reasons,  Mr.  Tyler  would  not  obey,  because 
he  did  not  believe  in  the  expunging  doctrine,  and  yet  would 
not  vote  against  the  instructions  of  his  state,  because  he  believed 
in  the  "right  of  instruction,"  so  he  resigned  and  gave  his 
reasons  therefor.  Both  senators  were  feasted  by  their  constitu- 
ents for  their  integrity. 

In  1835  Mr.  Tyler  was  nominated  for  vice-president  on  the 
ticket  with  Harrison,  but  both  failed  of  an  election.  In  the 
spring  of  1836  he  was  elected  to  the  Virginia  Legislature.  At 
this  time  he  acted  with  the  whig  party  in  opposition  to  Van 
Buren.  In  1839  he  was  made  a  delegate  to  the  whig  National 
Convention  at  Harrisburg,  Pennsylvania,  to  nominate  candidates 
for  president  and  vice-president.  He  labored  for  the  nomina- 
tion of  Clay,  but  General  Harrison  secured  the  nomination.  To 
conciliate  the  irritated  friends  of  Mr.  Clay,  Mr.  Tyler  was  put 
upon  the  ticket  for  vice-president.  His  whole  life  had  been 
against  the  principles  of  the  whig  party.  It  was  its  especial 
object  to  establish  a  national  bank  and  remedy  the  bad  condition 
of  the  finances  of  the  country.  But  he  was  put  upon  the  ticket 
as  a  compromise  with  the  South  and  Mr.  Clay's  friends.  It  was 
a  dear  compromise  to  whig  principles  and  the  party.  But  Mr. 
Tyler  made  his  speeches,  letters  and  labors  in  the  canvass 
satisfactory  to  the  party,  and  the  ticket  was  elected. 

VICE-PRESIDENT   AND    PRESIDENT  TYLER. 

On  the  fourth  of  March,  1841,  Mr.  Tyler  was  inaugurated 
vice-president  of  the  United  States.  In  one  month  after  being 
inaugurated,  President  Harrison  died.  Mr.  Tyler  was  inau- 


304  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

gurated  president  on  the  seventh  of  April.  An  extra  session 
of  Congress  had  been  called  by  Mr.  Harrison  for  the  thirty-rfirst 
of  May,  to  try  to  benefit  the  ill  condition  of  the  country 
occasioned  by  the  former  administrations.  When  Congress 
assembled,  the  first  question  that  came  before  it  was  as  to 
how  the  acting  president  should  be  addressed.  Was  he  presi- 
dent, or  was  he  vice-president?  It  was  decided  that  he  was 
president.  President  Tyler's  message  was  well  received;  his 
appointments  were  satisfactory. 

On  the  twelfth  of  June,  Mr.  Ewing,  secretary  of  the  treasury, 
reported  the  condition  of  the  national  finances,  and  also  a  bill 
for  the  "Fiscal  Bank  of  the  United  States."  The  plan  for  this 
fiscal  bank  was  designed  to  be  free  from  all  features  that  would 
be  objectionable  to  the  president.  A  bill,  such  as  the  secretary 
recommended,  was  offered  in  Congress,  and  passed  August  6. 
It  went  to  the  president.  In  ten  days  he  returned  it  Avith  a  veto 
message.  The  party  leaders  were  troubled.  The  president  out- 
lined a  bank  for  national  transactions,  which  he  had  wished  to 
see  established.  A  bill  was  prepared  exactly  to  suit  his  ideal 
fiscal  agent.  It  passed  Congress,  and  went  to  the  president  on 
the  third  of  September.  On  the  ninth,  he  returned  it  with  his 
objections.  This  was  trifling ;  and  astounding  to  his  associates. 
Two  days  after,  all  the  members  of  his  cabinet  resigned  but  Mr. 
Webster,  the  secretary  of  state,  who  had  in  hand  an  important 
transaction  with  England:  the  settlement  of  the  north-eastern 
boundary.  Soon  after  that  was  settled,  in  1842,  Mr.  Webster 
resigned. 

The  whig  party  was  shocked  and  shattered  by  the  action  of 
its  president.  The  great  Harrison  campaign  was  lost ;  the  will 
of  the  people  was  defeated  by  one  man.  The  anticipated  helps 
to  the  finances  of  the  country  were  put  off.  Maledictions  were 
freely  showered  upon  the  president. 

At  the  extra  session  of  Congress  a  protective  tariff  bill  was 
passed  and  signed  by  the  president.  Also  a  bill  for  the  use  of 
the  money  accruing  from  the  sales  of  the  public  lands;  and  a  bill 
for  a  uniform  bankrupt  law. 

At  the  next  Congress,  the  twenty-eighth,  which  met  in  1843, 


JOHN   TYLEE.  305 

the  president  found  himself  without  a  party.  He  had  swung 
more  and  more  over  to  the  democrats,  with  whom  he  really 
belonged;  had  appointed  many  democrats  to  office,  and  some  to 
his  cabinet;  and  had  shaped  his  official  conduct  more  after  dem- 
ocratic than  other  models;  and  yet  the  democrats  did  not  accept 
him  as  their  president.  The  Twenty-eighth  Congress  had  a  dem- 
ocratic House  and  a  whig  Senate.  In  a  party  sense,  his  hands 
were  tied.  Through  Caleb  Gushing,  of  Massachusetts,  a  treaty 
with  China  was  formed,  which  was  the  opening  of  that  greatest 
empire  of  the  world  to  intercourse  with  the  United  States. 

In  1844,  a  treaty  of  annexation  was  arranged  with  Texas, 
through  Mr.  John  C.  Calhouu,  of  South  Carolina.  Joint  reso- 
lutions passed  Congress  March  1, 1845,  formally  annexing  Texas 
with  the  United  States.  This  was  a  consummation  devoutly 
desired  by  the  south,  and  long  coveted  and  planned  for,  to  open 
an  empire  of  virgin  soil  to  the  extension  of  slavery,  and  the  order 
of  society  it  promoted.  The  growth  of  the  north  was  a  constant 
menace  to  the  politicians  of  the  south.  They  dreaded  the  time 
when  they  should  be  outvoted  in  Congress  by  the  north.  The 
south  had  little  in  business,  manufacture,  commerce,  railroading, 
telegraphing,  inventing,  mining,  navigation,  engineering,  science, 
education,  to  employ  its  men  of  talent.  The  north  had  much 
of  its  best  talent  employed  in  these  great  and  civilizing  affairs; 
and  was  widening  their  domains  of  enterprise  all  the  time.  The 
south  had  but  one  inviting  field,  which  was  politics.  That  field 
it  kept  full  of  first-class  talent  all  the  time.  And  its  politicians 
made  it  a  study,  gave  time,  zeal,  and  their  whole  power  to  it.  It 
was  usual  for  Congress,  and  all  the  offices  in  its  gifts,  to  be 
largely  filled  with  the  best  talent  of  the  south,  devoted  to  poli- 
tics as  a  profession.  It  was  usual  for  the  south  to  have  its  best 
debating  talent  in  Congress ;  and  there  generally  went  with  it 
the  tyranny  of  will  and  purpose,  born  of  the  institution  of 
slavery. 

With  southern  politicians,  therefore,  it  was  always  an  object 

to  extend  slave  territory,  even  though  the  territory  they  had 

was  not  half  settled,  nor  half  filled  with  enterprise.     And  when 

Texas  was  annexed,  which  had  been  fought  for  at  the  expense 

20 


306  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

of  the  United  States  for  a  long  time,  it  could  be  settled  only  at 
a  snail's  pace. 

Mr.  Tyler's  last  act  as  president  was  to  pocket  a  river  and 
harbor  bill  and  go  out  of  office  without  signing  it,  thus  defeat- 
ing it  by  what  is  called  the  "pocket  veto/' 

On  the  fourth  of  March,  1845,  he  retired  from  office  without 
the  regrets  of  either  party,  and  with  little  honor  for  his  great 
vexation  and  trouble. 

He  retired  to  Sherwood  Forest,  Charles  City  county,  Vir- 
ginia, and  lived  in  comfort  and  peace  in  a  home  he  prized.  He 
was  a  gentleman  in  manners  and  bearing,  well  furnished  with 
information,  of  a  refined  taste  and  delicate  sensibilities.  It  was 
his  misfortune  to  have  been  born  to  the  patrimony  of  thac 
"irrepressible  conflict"  between  slavery  and  freedom,  which 
toned  the  society  about  him,  and  gave  the  politics  he  inherited 
from  his  state  and  section. 

He  was  twice  married;  first  to  Miss  Letitia  Christian,  of 
Kent  county,  Virginia,  in  1813,  who  died  in  Washington,  in 
1842,  leaving  three  sons  and  three  daughters;  second,  to  Miss 
Julia  Gardiner,  of  New  York. 

In  1861,  when  the  great  rebellion  against  the  Union,  to  estab- 
lish an  empire  of  slavery  under  the  name  of  the  "Confederate 
States,"  was  inaugurated,  Mr.  Tyler,  by  sympathy  and  political 
doctrine,  belonged  to  it  and  was  a  part  of  it.  He  was  a  friend 
and  coadjutor  of  John  C.  Calhoun  in  his  nullification  doctrines 
and  practice,  which  was  rebellion  on  a  small  scale,  and  was  the 
first  planting  of  the  seed  of  rebellion.  He  had  always  main- 
tained the  doctrine  of  state  rights  which  exalted  the  state  above 
the  nation,  and  made  the  citizen's  supreme  loyalty  that  which 
was  due  to  his  state;  had  always  believed  in  the  "federative 
principle"  Avhich  united  the  states  during  mutual  pleasure  and 
bearable  conduct ;  and  now  that  rebellion  on  a  large  scale  had 
come  by  the  legitimate  effect  of  those  doctrines,  it  was  to  be 
expected  that  he  would  be  logical  enough  to  rebel  if  his  state 
did.  He  joined  the  confederates  ;  was  made  a  member  of  their 
congress  ;  and  while  doing  all  he  could  to  destroy  the  country 
that  had  honored  him  in  her  councils  and  with  her  chief -magis- 


JOHN  TYLEK. 


307 


tracy,  was  taken  sick  and  in  a  few  days  died.  Sad  for  the  mem- 
ory of  President  Tyler,  that  his  name  must  forever  stand 
associated  with  the  misery  and  desolation  brought  upon  the 
country,  north  and  south,  by  the  most  ill-judged  rebellion  that 
ever  crushed  a  fair  land  and  an  indulgent  government.  Pity  is 
stronger  than  blame  in  all  generous  minds  toward  our  only  pres- 
ident who  has  lifted  a  hand  against  the  government  that  had 
honored  him.  Still  let  his  name  be  kept  in  the  everlasting  roll 
of  honor  which  makes  the  presidents  of  the  United  States  an 
honored  and  immortal  few  that  "were  not  born  to  die." 


308  OUE   PRESIDENTS. 


*$HE  @RAVE  OF    JJOHN 

In  Hollywood  cemetery,  near  Richmond,  Virginia,  without 
obelisk,  slab,  or  bust  —  ten  yards  from  President  Monroe's 
peculiar  monument,  sleeps  obscurely  the  mortal  body  of  John 
Tyler. 

It  is  to  be  hoped  that  in  the  near  future,  the  presidents' 
graves,  which  have  now  no  fitting  recognition,  shall  either  by 
private  patriotism  or  public  justice,  be  monumeuted  and  hon- 
ored by  appropriate  expressions  of  national  gratitude  and 
respect.  It  is  due  to  the  nation  itself. 

Hollywood  cemetery  is  indeed  an  interesting  city  of  the 
dead,  not  only  on  account  of  its- beautiful  situation  in  that  noted 
part  of  the  country  where  have  originated  and  lived  so  many 
great  men,  but  on  account  of  the  distinguished  men  whose 
mortal  bodies  repose  in  its  sacred  enclosure.  All  cemeteries  are 
sacred  to  thoughtful  and  humane  men,  but  those  which  hold 
the  dust  of  great  worth  and  honored  characters  are  especially  so. 

About  thirty  feet  from  the  grave  of  President  Monroe,  with 
its  singular  monument,  in  isolation  and  loneliness  is  the  grave 
of  President  John  Tyler.  At  its  head  has  grown  a  small  mag- 
nolia tree,  which  is  its  only  monument ;  whether  set  there  by 
human  hand  or  by  nature  is  not  told  in  books.  Other  trees  and 
shrubbery  are  about  it. 

At  the  time  of  his  death,  January  17,  1862,  President  Tyler 
was  a  member  of  the  Confederate  Congress.  Virginia  had 
attempted  to  secede  from  the  United  States,  notwithstanding 
her  history,  her  sacred  relicts  of  presidents  and  great  men,  and 
Mr.  Tyler,  deluded  by  the  doctrine  of  state  rights,  which 
he  accepted  when  a  young  man,  thought  he  must  be  disloyal 
because  a  majority  of  his  state  legislature  were  at  that  partic- 
ular time,  and  so  he  repudiated  his  country  and  joined  the 
confederates  in  their  attempt  to  form  a  new  country  in  the  old 
national  home. 

The  disloyal  state  assembly,  then  in  session  at  Richmond, 


JOHK   TYLER.  809 

passed  resolutions  of  respect  and  sorrow  en  account  of  the  death 
of  "the  great  and  good  man/'  and  instructed  the  governor  to 
have  erected  "a  suitable  monument  to  his  memory."  The  Con- 
federate Congress  passed  resolutions  of  respect,  and  three  days 
after  his  death  joined  with  the  state  officials  and  the  dignitaries 
of  the  confederate  government,  military  and  civil  societies^  and  a 
great  body  of  citizens,  in  a  great  procession,  which  boi'c  s.t  it.1. 
head  the  mortal  remains  of  President  Tyler  to  their  rest  in  the 
peaceful  grave,  where  rebellion  and  its  bloody  war  would  not 
disturb  them.  Bishop  Johns  conducted  the  funeral  services. 
The  great  men  among  the  confederates  were  his  pall-bearers. 
The  vast  multitude  stood  in  respectful  silence  while  the  grave 
was  filled,  and  then  departed,  leaving  the  grave  to  the  growth  of 
nature's  adornments,  but  returning  not  with  slab  or  shaft  to 
note  the  place  where  they  had  laid  him.  But  it  was  for  no  want 
of  respect  or  affection;  for,  as  the  multitude  departed  from  his 
grave,  so  passed  away  the  multitude  of  the  confederates  from 
state  and  national  power. 

All  around  him  are  the  tombs  of  the  great  men  of  his  section; 
and  but  a  little  way  from  it  the  dust  of  sixteen  thousand  con- 
federate soldiers,  whose  tall,  pyramidal  monument  tells  forever 
of  the  heresy  of  ""state  rights"  and  the  folly  and  wickedness  of 
the  rebellion.  Singularly  interesting  are  the  names  all  about 
him  that  figure  in  the  history  of  the  rebellion,  such  as  Governor 
Wise,  James  M.  Mason,  A.  P.  Hill,  and  many  more  equally 
noted.  Few  cemeteries  in  the  whole  country  have  more  names 
to  call  up  great  memories  and  to  stir  reflection  on  great  events, 
and  principles,  and  awaken  sad  regrets  of  terrible  misjudgments 
and  mistakes.  It  is  a  good  place  to  come  and  weave  broadly  the 
mantle  of  Christian  charity,  so  as  to  hold  them  all  in  the  sweet 
heart  of  forgiving  love. 

Mrs.  Tyler  always  believed  that  Virginia  would  erect  a  suit- 
able monument  over  her  husband's  grave;  but  it  is  more  properly 
the  work  of  the  United  States,  which  can  well  afford  to  do  it  in 
token  of  its  free  forgiveness  of  its  honored  dead,  for  President 
Tyler  is  ours  forever.  This  centennial  decade  should  not  pass 
without  the  erection  by  Congress  of  a  suitable  monument. 


310 


OUR   PRESIDENTS. 


Mr.  Tyler's  bust,  by  Volk,  taken  from  a  mask  made  after 
his  death,  is  in  the  state  library.  There  is  also  in  the  library  a 
large  portrait,  by  Hart,  presented  to  Virginia  by  his  daughter, 
Letitia  Tyler  Sempte,  of  Baltimore. 


CHAPTER  XII. 


JAMES  IOTOX  POLK. 

ELEVENTH  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

.OR  several  reasons  which  will  appear  in  the  record,  the 
biography  of  the  eleventh  president,  is  of  interest 
aside  from  the  distinguished  position Jie  attained. 
On  the  banks  of  the  Catawba,  in  the  county  of  Mechlen- 
burg,  in  the  southwestern  part  of  North  Carolina,  Andrew 
Jackson  and  his  mother  found  protection  and  comfort 
among  the  ancestors  of  James  K.  Polk,  and  their  neighbors, 
when  they  fled  from  their  home  at  the  Waxhaw  settlement,  as  it 
was  invaded  by  the  British  soldiery  under  Cornwallis. 

Early  in  the  spring  of  1775  the  people  of  Mechlenburg 
county  heard  of  the  atrocities  the  British  soldiers  were  committing 
in  and  around  Boston,  Massachusetts.  Public  meetings  were 
at  once  called  to  discuss  these  invasions  of  the  public  peace.  By 
one  of  these  meetings,  Colonel  Thomas  Polk,  was  authorized  to 
call  a  convention  of  the  representatives  of  the  people,  to  see  what 
•should  be  done  about  the  troubles  at  Boston.  He  called  the 
convention  for  the  nineteenth  of  May,  1775,  at  Charlotte,  the 
county  seat.  At  this  meeting,  the  announcement  of  the  battles 
of  Lexington  and  Concord  was  made.  Great  excitement  was 
occasioned.  The  spirit  of  resistance  and  independence  was 
awakened.  Resolutions  were  adopted  and  read  by  Colonel 
Polk,  from  the  court-house  steps,  "  That  we,  the  citizens  of 
Mechlenburg  county,  do  hereby  dissolve  the  political  bands 

311 


312  OUR  PRESIDENTS. 

which  have  connected  us  to  the  mother  country,  and  hereby 
absolve  ourselves  from  all  allegiance  to  the  British  crown;  and 
that  we  do  hereby  declare  ourselves  a  free  and  independent 
people." 

This  first  and  heroic  declaration  of  independence,  is  a 
testimony  to  the  spirit  of  the  people  of  that  isolated  county  and 
to  the  ancestors  of  the  eleventh  president  of  the  United  States. 
It  seems  but  a  providential  reward  that  from  such  a  people  and 
that  place,  should  spring  a  president  of  the  country,  which  was 
to  grow  from  the  seed  there  planted.  From  the  spirit  of  the 
Mechlenburg  declaration  came  the  eleventh  president. 

ANCESTRY. 

Colonel  Thomas  Polk  and  his  brothers  Ezekiel  and  Charles, 
were  decendants  of  Robert  Polk,  who  came  from  the  north  of 
Ireland  between  1735  and  1740,  and  settled  in  this  vicinity.  The 
name  is  a  corruption  of  Pollock.  The  family  were  Scotch  and 
were  of  those  who  early  settled  in  the  north  of  Ireland  and  con- 
stituted the  people  known  as  Scotch-Irish,  Scotch  in  blood,  but 
Irish  in  locality. 

Samuel  Polk  was  the  son  of  Ezekiel  Polk,  and  the  father  of 
the  president.  The  Polks  were  all  staunch  patriots  in  the 
times  of  the  revolution. 

James  K.  Polk  was  born  in  Mechlenburg  county,  North 
Carolina,  November  2,  1795,  in  the  last  term  of  Washington's 
administration.  His  mother  was  Jane  Knox,  daughter  of 
James  Knox,  evidently  of  Scotch  descent.  He  was  the  eldest 
son  of  a  family  of  six  sons  and  four  daughters,  and  was  named 
for  his  grandfather  Knox,  who  was  a  captain  in  the  revolu- 
tionary war. 

The  Polks  were  a  substantial,  industrious,  self-reliant  people. 
Samuel  was  a  plain,  frugal,  enterprising  farmer,  who  tilled  his 
own  farm  and  taught  his  sons  his  independent  way  of  living. 

With  the  close  of  the  revolution  there  set  in  a  strong  desire 
to  people  the  solitudes  west  of  the  Alleghanies.  '  Washington 
favored  it  and  did  much  to  promote  it.  From  Mechlenburg 
county  and  that  vicinity  many  went.  The  Polks  pretty  gener- 


JAMES  KNOX   POLK.  313 

ally  were  among  them.  But  Samuel  did  not  get  away  till  1806, 
when  he  went  with  his  family  to  the  valley  of  the  Duck  river,  a 
tributary  of  the  Tennessee.  Here  he  secured  land,  erected  his 
cabin,  made  his  home,  and  with  hardy  enterprise  set  about 
developing  a  farm.  The  next  year  the  vicinity  about  him  was 
formed  into  Maury  county.  He  was  a  practical  surveyor,  and 
was  much  employed  in  surveying  the  new  lands  of  the  county. 
His  son  James  often  went  with  him  on  his  surveying  expeditions, 
assisting  in  such  ways  as  he  could;  and  it  was  not  long  before  he 
could  make  the  mathematical  calculations  for  his  father.  These 
studies  of  the  woods  availed  him  much,  as  they  promoted  his 
scholarship  and  quickened  his  mind  for  further  study. 

HIS  BOYHOOD. 

The  boyhood  of  James  was  that  of  a  farmer's  boy  of  all  work. 
Being  the  oldest,  he  was  the  chore  boy,  the  errand  boy,  the  call- 
boy  for  all  little  jobs;  the  big  boy  to  care  for  the  little  ones,  help 
his  mother  and  be  generally  useful.  It  is  a  rare  thing  if  the 
oldest  child  does  not  find  out  many  ways  to  be  useful  in  the 
family.  This  was  the  favored  opportunity  for  James.  As  his 
father  was  a  surveyor,  he  added  to  the  ordinary  accomplishments 
of  the  oldest  farmer  boy,  that  of  a  surveyor's  waiter,  cook  and 
teamster.  In  these  many  ways  of  usefulness,  James  was  well 
trained  in  the  helpful  industries  of  everyday  life  and  secured 
unconsciously  the  moral  and  courteous  results  of  such  training. 
There  were  business,  duty,  morality  and  manners  in  this  training. 

In  study,  he  had  such  advantages  as  the  schools  of  his  time 
afforded  —  enough  to  give  him  studious  habits,  a  love  of  read- 
ing, and  a  covetousness  of  knowledge. 

His  constitution  not  appearing  to  be  strong,  perhaps  having 
been  over-worked,  his  father  thought  it  best  to  take  him  from 
the  farm  and  put  him  into  a  store.  This  did  not  suit  his  taste, 
and  he  was  allowed  to  leave  and  gratify  his  love  of  study,  under 
the  direction  of  Eeverend  Doctor  Henderson.  Afterward  he 
want  to  the  Murfreesburg  academy,  where  he  had  excellent 
advantages.  In  about  two  years  and  a  half,  he  prepared  him- 


314  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

* 

self  to  enter  the  sophomore  class  in  the  University  of  North 
Carolina. 

The  farmer's  boy,  reared  as  he  was,  who  out  of  his  unco^ 
querable  desire  to  study,  against  his  parents'  wishes,  and  without 
encouragement  from  others,  pushes  on,  and  works  his  way  into 
an  advanced  place  in  college,  as  he  did,  has  already  given 
assurance  of  a  manhood  that  is  likely  to  be  marked. 

His  course  in  college  was  the  counterpart  of  what  it  had 
been  at  home,  faithful,  industrious,  pushing,  He  was  happy, 
because  he  was  gratifying  a  hunger  for  knowledge.  He  made 
rapid  progress,  honored  the  college  with  a  loyal  submission  to 
its  laws,  made  friends  and  took  the  honors  of  his  class,  graduat- 
ing in  June,  1818,  in  his  twenty-third  year. 

His  college  life  strongly  impressed  him ;  he  became  a  college 
man,  a  lover  of  scholarship  and  scholars ;  often  revisited  his 
college ;  received  from  it,  in  1847,  the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor 
of  Laws;  and  was  its  constant  friend  through  the  whole  of 
his  life. 

ME.    POLK   AS   A   LAWYER. 

Leaving  college  with  somewhat  impaired  health,  he  rested 
for  a  few  months,  and  early  the  next  year,  entered  the  law 
office  of  Mr.  Felix  Grundy,  at  Nashville.  Mr.  Grundy,  at  this 
time,  was  a  prominent  national  man,  and  for  many  years  held  a 
conspicuous  place  among  the  strong  men  of  the  nation.  Mr. 
Polk  had,  for  a  considerable  time,  anticipated  the  study  of  law. 
He  went  to  it  with  a  zest,  as  fulfilling  a  long-cherished  desire. 
While  studying  with  Mr.  Grundy,  he  made  the  acquaintance  of 
Andrew  Jackson,  who  occasionally  called  at  the  office,  and  who 
was  then  living  at  the  Hermitage,  a  few  miles  from  Nashville. 
A  friendship  grew  up  from  this  acquaintance,  which  was  life- 
lasting.  Jackson  had  lived  in  Mechlenburg,  where  Polk  was 
born ;  had  known  his  ancestors ;  was  himself  born  and  reared 
near  the  same  place  ;  they  were  both  Scotch-Irish  ;  their  ances- 
tors had  come  from  the  north  of  Ireland  to  this  country  about 
the  same  time  ;  they  were  both  born  of  humble  parents,  and  in 
straitened  circumstances;  Mr.  Jackson  was  quick  and  ardent 


JAMES  KKOX   POLK.  315 

in  his  likes,  as  well  as  dislikes,  and  Mr.  Polk  was  cordial,  frank, 
manly  ;  so  between  them  there  was  soon  established  the  best  of 
feelings.  It  was  good  fortune  for  Mr.  Polk  that  he  found  two 
such  friends  in  the  office  where  he  studied  for  his  profession. 

Near  the  close  of  1820,  Mr.  Polk  was  admitted  to  the  bar. 

He  was  now  twenty-five  years  old  ;  with  a  very  practical  bus- 
iness education  as  a  boy;  a  solid  college  education,  and  the 
acquaintance  of  scholarly  men  and  class-mates,  that  comes  with 
it  as  a  youth  ;  a  good  professional  education,  and  the  friendship 
of  Jackson  and  Grundy,  and  their  associates.  This  was  laying 
a  broad  foundation  for  a  strong  manhood.  It  was- wisdom  in 
the  beginning.  It  was  the  initiatory  investment  for  a  great  and 
sure  fortune.  Added  to  all  this,  as  more  and  better,  were  an 
excellent  moral  character,  good  habits,  the  manners  of  a  gen- 
tleman, and  the  spirit  of  a  generous  and  high-minded  man. 
Under  such  a  beginning,  Mr.  Polk's  fortune  was  almost  assured. 

Mr.  Polk  entered  at  once  upon  the  practice  of  law,  and  con- 
tinued for  several  years,  growing  more  and  more  efficient  and  emi- 
nent. Sometimes  he  was  alone,  sometimes  in  company  with  other 
eminent  lawyers,  among  whom  were  Anson  V.  Brown  and  Gid- 
eon J.  Pillow,  major-general  in  the  Mexican  war.  In  his  pro- 
fession he  won  a  place  in  the  world,  a  competence,  and  the  mas- 
tery of  his  powers  and  learning. 

MB.    POLK   A  LEGISLATOR. 

In  1823  he  was  elected  to  the  legislature  of  his  state,  after 
an  animated  canvass,  in  which  he  took  the  leading  part.  Pre- 
vious to  this  he  had  served  as  chief  clerk  in  the  House  of 
Representatives.  He  remained  two  years  a  member  of  the 
legislature.  This  was  during  the  presidency  of  Mr.  Monroe, 
with  whom  Mr.  Polk  was  in  full  political  sympathy.  He 
approved  the  action  of  the  Tennessee  legislature  of  1822,  in 
nominating  Andrew  Jackson  for  the  presidency,  and  in  1824 
assisted  in  nominating  and  electing  him  to  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States. 

While  a  member  of  his  state  legislature,  Mr.  Polk  procured 
the  passage  of  a  law  against  dueling,  for  which  he  had  a  great 


316  OUE   PRESIDENTS. 

aversion,  as  an  unmanly  and  cruel  "code  of  honor,"  which  had 
come  as  a  relic  of  barbarism  from  a  brutal  past.  To  take  this 
high  moral  ground  touching  an  immoral  practice,  in  a  com- 
munity which  had  approved  it,  and  among  leading  men  like 
Andrew  Jackson,  his  personal  friend,  who  thought  they  were 
honored  by  its  practice,  was  a  fine  demonstration  of  the  moral 
courage  and  character  of  the  man.  Hardly  anything  in  his 
whole  life  speaks  better  for  his  head  and  heart,  or  reveals  more 
clearly  the  richness  of  his  moral  nature. 

On  the  first  day  of  January,  1824,  Mr.  Polk  was  married  to 
Miss  Sarah  Childress,  daughter  of  Joel  Childress,  a  successful 
merchant  of  Eutherford  county,  Tennessee.  He  was  now 
twenty-nine  years  old,  well  established  in  business,  in  reputa- 
tion and  in  character.  Mrs.  Polk  was  a  woman  for  her  place, 
able  to  adorn  and  honor  exalted  station,  a  helpmeet,  indeed,  to 
him  in  the  important  public  career  that  was  opening  to  him, 

ME.    POLK  THE  CONGRESSMAN. 

In  1825  Mr.  Polk  was  elected  to  the  Lower  House  of  Con- 
gress, and  continued  in  this  position  for  fourteen  years.  Into 
his  duties  as  a  national  legislator  he  carried  his  studious  habits4 
methodical  ways  and  honest  sense  of  duty.  He  was  a  working 
man,  and  he  made  a  working  member  of  Congress.  He  was 
elected  to  Congress  the  same  year  John  Quincy  Adams  was 
inaugurated  president.  He  served  through  his  term,  not  in 
direct  opposition  to  the  president,  but  holding  in  the  main 
quite  different  views  on  partisan  subjects. 

Mr.  Adams'  election  by  the  House,  defeating  Jackson,  who 
had  the  most  electoral  votes  on  the  first  ballot,  caused  a  warm 
discussion  of  the  constitutional  plan  of  electing  the  president. 
Much  was  said  of  amending  the  constitution.  Mr.  Polk  made 
his  first  speech  in  Congress  on  this  subject,  advocating  an 
amendment  which  should  give  the  choice  of  the  president  and 
•  vice-president  directly  to  the  people,  without  the  intervention 
of  an  electoral  college. 

Mr.  Polk  was  put  on  important  committees,  and  more  and 


JAMES   KKOX   POLK.  317 

more,  as  his  talents  and  fidelity  became  known,  were  the 
working  oars  of  Congress  put  into  his  hands. 

After  General  Jackson  became  president,  the  question  of 
internal  improvements  by  the  general  government  came  np  for 
re-discussion.  Mr.  Adams,  as  secretary  of  state  under  Mr. 
Monroe,  and  Mr.  Monroe  himself,  under  the  strong  teaching  of 
Mr.  Adams,  had  favored  judicious  and  important  internal 
improvements,  which  single  states  could  not  make.  For  twelve 
years  these  ideas  and  practices  had  prevailed  in  the  government, 
and  prosperity  had  attended  it  and  the  country.  The  revenues 
of  the  government  were  strong  and  increasing.  The  public 
debt  occasioned  by  the  war  of  1812  and  the  Indian  wars,  was  all 
paid.  There  was  money  in  the  treasury  to  be  distributed 
among  the  states.  Business  was  good,  commerce  prosperous, 
immigration  active.  The  policy  of  the  government  for  the 
twelve  years  of  the  Adams-Monroe  direction  gave  great  pros- 
perity to  the  country. 

But  internal  improvement  by  the  general  government  was 
contrary  to  General  Jackson's  theory.  There  wos  danger  of 
national  monopoly  in  too  great  national  prosperity.  The  power 
of  the  general  government  was  to  be  dreaded  and  guarded 
against  by  the  states.  And  so  he  with  a  strong  hand  instituted 
a  new  order  of  tilings.  The  public  works,  like  the  Cumberland 
national  road  and  the  Maysville  road,  he  stopped  by  vetoing  the 
bills  for  appropriations  to  continue  them.  There  was  money  in 
the  treasury  and  no  way  to  use  it ;  and  these  roads  were  vastly 
important  improvements,  running  through  several  states  and 
benefiting  the  whole  country;  yet  they  must  stop. 

Mr.  Polk,  the  warm  personal  friend,  almost  the  protege  of 
Jackson,  took  his  view,  and  became  the  ardent  and  strong 
defender  of  the  Ja'cksonian  theory  and  policy.  He  had  held 
different  views,  like  most  of  the  rising  young  men  of  that  time. 
In  Mr.  Monroe's  time,  he  saw  the  need  of  public  improvements 
— roads,  river  and  harbor  improvements,  and  gave  his  adher- 
ence to  the  policy  that  prevailed.  A  pity  he  had  not  held 
on  to  his  patriotic  and  statesmanlike  views,  so  honorable  to  his 
young  mind  and  consonant  with  his  noble  nature.  But  power- 


i>18  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

ful  forces  were  in  the  executive,  and  he  yielded  to  them,  after 
the  Van  Buren  style.  The  veto  of  the  national  improvements, 
the  veto  of  the  national  bank  and  the  removal  of  the  national 
deposits  from  that  bank  to  the  state  banks  were  all  a  part  of 
President  Jackson's  general  theory  that  the  states  are  in  danger 
from  the  monopolies  and  oppressions  of  the  general  government. 
Mr.  Polk  fell  so  much  under  the  influence  of  Jackson  and  his 
party  as  to  go  completely  over  to  their  views. 

In  1835  Mr.  Polk  was  made  speaker  of  the  Twenty-fourth 
Congress.  At  the  next  Congress  he  was  re-elected  speaker.  He 
filled  this  responsible  position  with  great  credit  to  himself  and 
satisfaction  to  Congress  and  the  country. 

At  the  close  of  the  session,  March  4,  1839,  Mr.  Polk  gave  a 
farewell  address  to  the  house,  in  which  he  had  served  with 
signal  ability  through  fourteen  years.  His  deliberative  mind, 
enriched  with  learning,  reading  and  experience,  his  considerate 
respect  for  men,  and  courteous  manners  fitted  him  well  for  this 
trying  place. 

MR.    POLK  THE    GOVERNOR. 

The  next  August  Mr.  Polk  was  made  the  democratic  candi- 
date for  governor  of  Tennessee,  and  after  an  unusually  warm 
contest,  in  which  he  was  the  1-eading  speaker  in  his  own  behalf, 
he  was  elected.  He  entered  upon  the  discharge  of  the  gover- 
nor's duties  on  the  fourteenth  of  October,  1839.  He  gave  an 
address  on  this  occasion,  which  was  regarded  as  one  of  the  ablest 
and  best  of  his  life. 

Though  opposed  to  internal  improvements  by  the  United 
States,  Mr.  Polk  was  in  favor  of  improvements  by  the  states; 
so  in  his  opening  address  to  the  legislature,  he  advised  the 
"vigorous  prosecution  of  a  judicious  system  of  internal  improve- 
ments." He  also  advised  "a,  board  of  public  works,  to  be  com- 
posed of  two  or  more  competent  and  scientific  men,  who  should 
be  authorized  and  their  duties  established  by  law."  He  was  a 
man  of  progress,  had  much  state  pride,  and  would  commit  his 
state  to  all  improvements  it  could  prosecute  with  vigor.  He 
did  not  seem  to  see  that  every  argument  for  improvement  by  the 


JAMES  KKOX  POLK.  319 

state  was  equally  good  for  improvement  by  the  United  States, 
and  that  state  pride  in  the  true  patriot  is  but  the  root  of  a  more 
vigorous  pride  of  country.  His  political  theory  fanned  the 
flame  of  a  state  pride  to  the  injury  of  national  sentiments  — 
made  the  state  an  object  of  more  personal  interest  and  affection 
than  the  country.  This  was  an  evil  he  did  not  see,  though 
thousands  of  his  countrymen  fully  apprehended  it. 

In  the  same  message  he  recommended  the  passage  of  a  law 
"prohibiting  betting  on  elections/'  and  gave  many  reasons  for 
it  which  were  alike  creditable  to  his  head  and  heart.  His  moral 
nature  was  quick  and  strong,  and  he  believed  legislation  had 
moral  interests  to  subserve.  He  would  put  law  to  the  service  of 
conscience  as  well  as  property. 

Mr.  Folk's  administration  as  governor  through  his  term  of 
two  years,  was  so  satisfactory  as  to  make  him  the  acknowledged 
head  of  his  party  in  his  state.  Mr.  Grundy,  his  old  law  teacher 
and  life-long  friend  had  died.  He  was  now  forty-six  years  old, 
in  the  full  day  of  early  manhood;  had  lived  a  discreet  and  well- 
preserved  life;  had  a  national  experience  in  public  life,  as  well 
as  a  wide  knowledge  in  state  affairs.  He  was  a  candidate  for 
another  term;  but  the  Harrison  canvass  for  the  presidency  had 
swept  Tennessee  with  a  heavy  majority  of  the  states,  into  the 
ranks  of  the  whigs.  The  strong  anti-bank,  anti-tariff,  anti- 
internal  improvement,  and  pro-state  doctrines  and  practices  of 
the  democratic  party  had  produced  a  heavy  reaction  against  it. 
The  practical  affairs  of  the  country  were  disastrously  deranged, 
and  a  new  administration  of  public  affairs  was  demanded  by  the 
people.  Mr.  Polk,  therefore,  was  defeated,  on  purely  political 
grounds,  and  his  opponent  James  C.  Jones,  was  elected. 

Mr.  Polk  was  again  candidate  for  governor  in  1843,  but  was 
again  defeated.  He  -had  now  a  brief  respite  from  public  affairs, 
which  he  spent  in  home  enjoyments  and  hospitalities. 

But  the  political  life  and  issues  of  the  rapidly  growing 
nation  were  rapidly  changing.  The  death  of  President  Harri- 
son and  the  defection  of  President  Tyler  to  the  democratic  party 
from  which  he  had  come,  had  lost  to  the  whigs  the  fruits  ot 
their  victory.  The  new  question  of  the  annexation  of  Texas  to 


320  OUB   PEESIDENTS. 

the  Union,  which  had  long  been  an  object  of  southern  enter- 
prise and  ambition,  had  now  come  to  the  front.  President 
Tyler  and  his  Congress  were  committed  to  it.  It  was  at  bottom 
a  pro-slavery  movement,  but  it  had  a  national  glamour  in 
adding  an  empire  of  rich  virgin  soil  to  the  national  domain, 
which  captivated  many  people  who  did  not  stop  to  inquire  into 
the  bad  faith  and  immoral  policy  at  the  bottom  of  annexation. 
The  partisan  aspect  of  the  subject  was  pretty  well  defined.  The 
whigs,  for  the  most  part,  were  opposed  to  annexation;  the 
democrats  in  the  main  were  in  favor  of  it. 

The  sectional  aspect  was  about  as  well  defined.  A  strong 
majority  in  the  north  were  opposed  to  annexation;  an  equally 
strong  majority  in  the  south  were  in  favor  of  it.  It  was  at 
bottom  a  sectional  matter,  the  child  of  the  south. 

The  democratic  party  had  always  had  its  heaviest  majorities 
in  the  south.  Its  state-rights  doctrine  was  a  favorite  southern 
doctrine.  This  question  of  annexation  tended  strongly  to  pro- 
mote the  growing  sectionalism  which  slavery  had  already  caused. 

The  coming  democratic  national  convention  to  meet  at  Balti- 
more, in  1844,  was  to  be  shaped  to  this  new  issue.  Every  promi- 
nent democrat  who  had  presidential  aspirations  must  avow  him- 
self. The  prominent  names  likely  to  come  before  that  conven- 
tion, were  Martin  Van  Buren,  of  New  York;  Lewis  Cass,  of 
Michigan;  Richard  M.  Johnson,  of  Kentucky;  James  Buchanan, 
of  Pennsylvania,  and  Levi  Woodbury,  of  New  Hampshire.  Mr. 
"V7  an  Buren  was  opposed  to  annexation,  and  were  it  not  for  this, 
stood  the  best  chance  of  the  nomination.  The  rest  were  in 
favor  of  annexation. 

Mr.  Folk's  friends,  who  for  some  years  had  presidential 
aspirations  for  him,  were  quick  to  see  the  possible  prospect  for 
him,  and  had  him  called  out  in  a  letter  on  the  political  issues. 
In  that  letter  he  took  his  stand  for  annexation.  He  was  thus 
made  ready  for  an  emergency.  The  convention  came.  The 
rule  of  former  conventions  requiring  a  two-thirds  majority  to 
nominate  was  adopted.  For  several  ballots  Mr.  Van  Buren  had 
a  strong  majority,  but  not  two  thirds.  It  was  soon  found  that  Mr. 
Van  Buren's  friends  would  not  vote  for  any  of  the  named  candi- 


JAMES   KNOX   POLK.  321 

dates.  Here  was  a  chance  for  Mr.  Folk's  friend.  On  the  eighth 
ballot  several  of  them  voted  for  him.  This  brought  his  name 
before  the  convention.  On  the  ninth  ballot  he  received  nearly 
all  the  votes  of  the  convention,  and  then  was  nominated  by 
acclamation. 

Henry  Clay,  of  Kentucky,  was  the  whig  candidate.  The 
election  returns  showed  Mr.  Polk  elected  by  a  strong  majority. 

When  his  name  was  announced  as  a  candidate,  many  of  the 
other  party  cried  out  in  wonder,  "Who  is  James  K.  Polk?"  as 
though  he  was  an  unheard-of  man.  Now  his  friends  could 
reply,  "President  elect  of  the  United  States." 

MR.    POLK  AS   PRESIDENT. 

Taking  leave  of  his  venerable  friend,  Andrew  Jackson,  and 
receiving  the  congratulations  of  his  Nashville  friends  at  a  public 
dinner,  Mr.  Polk,  with  his  family  and  a  suite  of  friends,  repaired 
to  Washington,  and  was  inaugurated  as  eleventh  president  of 
the  United  States,  March  4th,  1845. 

President  Folk's  first  public  business  related  to  the  great 
issue  on  which  he  was  elected — the  annexation  of  Texas.  Presi- 
dent Tylers'_last  public  acts  were  preparatory  to  the  final  act  of 
annexation.  President  Polk  instructed  the  United  States  min- 
ister in  Texas  to  bear  to  the  Texan  government  the  action  of 
the  United  States'  government.  The  people  of  Texas  accepted 
the  offer  of  annexation,  held  a  convention,  formed  a  constitu- 
tion and  came  to  the  door  of  Congress  with  documents  in  hand, 
ready  to  be  admitted.  In  his  first  annual  message  to  Congress, 
President  Polk  informed  Congress  and  the  country  of  the  atti- 
tude of  Texas,  and  suggested  the  importance  of  speedily  passing 
a  recognizing  act,  arid  of  receiving  Texas  with  her  senators, 
representatives,  governor  and  people  into  the  United  States. 

Now  Texas  added  another  to  the  pro-slavery  states,  and 
increased  the  pro-slavery  strength  in  Congress  by  its  senators 
and  representatives.  It  had  cost  a  war  to  get  it,  many  lives,  and 
much  money;  but  the  worst  of  the  war  was  not  over.  Simply 
because  the  United  States  were  strong  enough  to  do  it,  and  the 
21 


322  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

South  was  greedy  enough  for  slave  territory,  they  robbed  Mexico 
of  it. 

To  hold  the  new  state  against  its  old  owner,  General  Taylor 
had  been  ordered,  with  the  United  States  army,  to  occupy  the 
territory  between  the  Neuces  river  and  the  Rio  Grande.  It  was 
called  "The  Army  of  Occupation."  Commodore  Conner,  of 
the  United  States  navy,  was  ordered  to  be  with  the  naval  forces 
of  the  government,  in  the  waters  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  adja- 
cent to  the  territory  occupied  by  the  army.  Mexico  had  not 
only  been  despoiled  of  Texas,  but  she  must  now  be  whipped  for 
objecting  to  it.  The  "Army  of  Occupation"  moved  forward  to 
the  east  bank  of  the  Rio  Grande  and  planted  its  batteries  before 
a  Mexican  town.  A  collision  was  brought  on  and  war  was 
declared  which  cost  some  twenty  thousand  lives  and  a  vast 
amount  of  money.  Mexico  was  terribly  punished;  her  territory 
laid  waste;  her  capital  occupied;  and  then  the  demand  made 
upon  her  to  pay  for  the  war,  which  she  could  only  do  by  surren- 
dering to  the  United  States,  New  Mexico  and  Upper  and  Lower 
California, —  an  empire  of  territory  of  vast  dimensions.  The 
people  of  the  north  were  shocked  at  this  immense  increase  of 
territory  open  to  slavery,  and  at  the  way  in  which  it  was  obtained. 
Sharp  discussion  followed;  fierce  altercation;  plans  for  compro- 
mise, for  provisos,  all  of  which  ended  as  they  began.  This 
great  movement  for  southern  territory  which  was  so  suc- 
cessful, really  awakened  the  north  to  the  real  evil  of  slavery  as 
it  had  never  been  awakened  before.  It  was  the  beginning  of 
the  end  of  that  institution.  By  the  annexation  of  Texas  and 
what  followed  it,  the  seeds  of  the  republican  party  in  the  north 
were  planted  and  the  spirit  of  resistance  to  the  aggressions  of 
slavery  was  aroused. 

By  laws  which  politicians  do  not  control,  the  results  of  this 
great  acquisition  of  slave  territory,  were  absolutely  reversed  from 
those  intended  by  its  promulgators.  The  southern  party  was 
over  greedy.  Pro-slavery  society  was  slow-growing  and  unenter- 
prising. It  could  hardly  fill  up  the  old  states;  it  did  not  need 
new.  Its  greed  of  territory  and  power  aroused  the  north  to 
opposition.  Its  increase  of  territory  augmented  immigration  to 


JAMES  KtfOX  POLK.  323 

the  north  and  enterprise  in  the  north.  Anti-slavery  settlers 
pushed  westward;  took  Nebraska;  took  Kansas;  got  possession 
of  Upper  California;  pushed  down  into  Lower  California;  urged 
their  way  into  St.  Louis,  and  held  northern  Missouri;  got  a 
foothold  in  Western  Virginia;  and  then  backed  the  whole  line 
of  their  invasion  upon  slave  territory,  with  tiers  of  new  and 
enterprising  free  states.  Thou  they  filled  the  territory  they 
settled  with  productive  farms,  machinery,  shops,  schools,  vil- 
lages, cities,  wealth,  and  all  the  power  these  have  in  them. 
They  over-grew  the  slower  society  of  the  south  by  the  more 
productive  forces  of  free  society.  This  was  a  development  the 
annexationists  had  not  provided  for;  it  came  by  the  laws  of 
social  growth ;  by  business  enterprize ;  by  immigration,  which 
free  society  welcomes  and  absorbs ;  by  education  and  the  free 
play  of  human  energies.  The  very  institution  which  the  south 
nursed  with  such  passionate  fondness,  burdened  and  crippled 
her,  and  prevented  her  from  going  forward  and  occupying  the 
territories  she  so  eagerly  acquired.  If  men  had  been  philos- 
ophers, they  would  have  foreseen  the  results  that  have  come,  as 
the  inevitable  work  of  social  laws.  A  great  world  of  blame,  pas- 
sion, prejudice,  abuse,  and  misjudgments,  could  have  been  saved, 
if  men  would  have  seen  that  in  the  development  of  the  social 
forces,  freedom  will  always  outdo  slavery.  This  Mr,  Polk  and 
his  administration  did  not  see.  In  all  his  state  papers,  he  labored 
to  show  that  Mexico  was  the  leading  offender,  and  made  it  neces- 
sary, in  honor  and  justice  for  the  United  States,  to  punish  her 
and  take  her  territory.  It  was  the  greatest  misuse  of  his  excel- 
lent talents,  that  he  had  ever  put  them  to.  But  it  was  a  part  of 
the  partisan  and  sectional  politics  to  which  he  had  committed 
his  fortunes. 

President  Polk's  administration  was  popular  with  his  party 
and  section.  He  had  carried  out  the  programme  with  which 
he  started,  and  could  congratulate  the  country  that  by  the 
annexation  of  Texas,  and  the  Mexican  war,  he  had  greatly 
increased  its  domain.  What  untold  wealth  was  in  the  mines  of 
the  mountains  he  had  secured,  he  did  not  know  or  dream.  What 
busy  populations  would  in  forty  years  dwell  on  the  soii  he  had 


324  OUE   PRESIDENTS. 

brought  to  the  nation,  he  did  not  conjecture.  He  was  one  of 
those  who  "builded  better  than  he  knew."  He  planned  for  the 
extension  of  slavery ;  the  forces  in  the  growth  of  civilization 
extended  the  area  of  freedom.  He,  and  those  who  sustained 
him  in  his  work,  anticipated  a  great  growth  of  southern  power 
on  the  broad  plantations  of  Texas;  the  march  of  events  has  put 
the  northern  and  southern  man  side  by  side  on  the  prolific  soil 
of  the  "  Lone  Star  State/'  to  promote,  not  the  glory  of  a  section, 
but  of  the  nation.  He  sought  to  magnify  the  state,  and  develop 
state  loyalty,  but  a  wise  Providence  has  turned  his  work  to  the 
glory  of  the  common  country,  north  and  south. 

He  loved  his  country,  no  doubt,  but  that  love  was  distem- 
pered by  theories  which  set  in  his  mind  a  section  before  the 
whole. 

The  lessons  of  time  have  taught  us  all,  north  and  south,  east 
and  west,  to  be  broader  than  we  used  to  be ;  and  to  join  hands 
in  making  a  country  whose  great  heart  shall  beat  for  the  whole 
of  humanity.  By  and  by  it  shall  turn  out  that  we  all,  like  Pres- 
ident Polk,  are  building  better  than  we  know ;  for  the  country 
in  which  we  shall  glory  will  be  the  world  free  and  happy,  in 
the  spirit  of  the  American  republic. 

On  the  third  of  March,  1849,  Mr.  Polk  retired  from  office. 
The  next  day  was  Sunday.  On  the  fifth  he  assisted  in  inaugu- 
rating his  successor,  General  Taylor,  and  the  same  evening,  in 
company  with  his  family,  started  on  his  journey  homeward. 

They  took  a  round-about  course  to  visit  the  leading  southern 
cities,  in  all  of  which  they  were  received  with  demonstrations  of 
pleasure  by  the  people.  In  due  time  they  reached  their  home, 
supplied  with  the  comforts  of  taste  and  wealth.  Though  in 
youth  his  health  was  not  the  firmest,  Mr.  Polk  had  been  so 
temperate  and  judicious  in  the  care  of  himself,  that  he  had  long 
enjoyed  excellent  health.  He  returned  to  his  home  at  fifty-four 
years  of  age.  It  was  a  year  of  cholera  at  New  Orleans.  On  his 
way  up  the  river,  he  felt  the  symptoms  of  that  disease.  Not 
many  days  after  he  reached  there,  the  cholera  took  fast  hold  of 
him,  and  after  a  short  sickness,  he  died  peacefully  on  the 
fifteenth  of  June,  1849. 


JAMES  KNOX   POLK.  325 


HE  flRAVE  OF  lAMES  K.   iOLK. 


Nashville,  which  was  the  adopted  home  of  Mr.  Polk,  is  now 
the  resting  place  of  the  honored  remains  of  President  Polk. 
It  is,  so  to  speak,  his  cemetery,  his  permanent  home.  Not  in 
"the  city  of  the  dead,"  but  in  the  city  of  the  living,  his  form 
reposes.  The  sights  and  sounds  of  life  with  which  he  was 
familiar  are  still  about  his  lowly  bed  of  rest.  Beautiful  for  situ- 
ation is  this  thriving  city  of  the  living,  which  rises  gracefully 
above  the  bluffs  of  the  river  to  be  crowned  in  its  height  with  its 
elegant  capitol.  It  is  enriched  with  many  elegant  homes  and 
many  institutions  of  learning,  both  for  white  and  colored  youth. 
It  is  the  Athens  of  the  south.  The  Cumberland  river,  with  its 
bluffs  and  promontories  and  variegated  banks,  sweeps  by  it  ; 
while  far  and  wide  from  its  capitol  stretches,  every  way,  delight- 
ful scenery.  Almost  in  sight,  twelve  miles  from  the  city,  is  the 
Hermitage  and  grave  of  President  Jackson.  These  two  presi- 
dents, adopted  sons  of  Tennessee,  warm  personal  friends  in  life, 
sleep  almost  together  in  death.  The  generations  rising  up 
around  them  who  look  upon  their  tombs  and  read  their  histories 
may  be  quickened  by  them  to  add  new  honors  to  the  country 
they  served  and  which  honored  them  with  its  highest  confidence. 
Over  the  grave  is  a  limestone  monument,  designed  by  William 
Strickland,  the  architect  of  the  capitol.  It  is  about  twelve  feet 
square  and  of  a  similar  height.  It  is  in  Grecian-Doric  style,  a 
cover  or  roof  supported  with  columns.  On  the  architrave  of 
the  eastern  front  is  the  inscription  : 


ELEVENTH  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Born  November  2,  1795, 

Died  June  15,  1849. 


I 

mill 


326  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

On  the  eastern  and  southern  faces  of  the  monument  is  the 
following  record : 

THE  MORTAL  REMAINS  OF 

JAMES  K.  POLK 

Are  resting  in  the  vault  beneath. 

He  was  born  in  Mechlenburg  county,  North  Carolina, 

And  emigrated  with  his  father, 

SAMUEL  POLK, 

To  Tennessee,  in  1806. 

The  beauty  of  virtue  was  illustrated  in  his  life  ;  the  excellence  of 

Christianity  was  exemplified  in  his  death. 
By  his  public  policy  he  defined,  established  and  extended 

the  boundaries  of  his  country. 
He  planted  the  laws  of  the  American  Union  on  the  shores  of  the  Pacific. 

His  influence  and  his  counsels  tended  to  organize 

the  National  Treasury  on  the  principles  of  the  Constitution, 

and  to  apply  the  rule  of  Freedom  to  Navigation,  Trade  and  Industry. 

His  life  was  devoted  to  the  public  service. 
He  was  elevated  successively  to  the  first  places  of  the  State 

and  Federal  Governments ; 
A  member  of  the  General  Assembly; 

A  member  of  Congress; 
Chairman  of  the  most  important  Congressional  Committees; 

Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives; 
Governor  of  Tennessee,  and  President  of  the  United  States. 


/ 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


ZACHARY    TATLOE. 

TWELFTH  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

||  F  the  thirteen  presidents  in  the  first  sixty  years  of  the 
United  States  government,  seven  were  born  in  Vir- 
ginia ;  so  it  became  common  to  call  Virginia  the 
"Mother  of  Presidents."  No  state  was  more  forward  in 
the  revolution  and  for  independence ;  no  state  furnished 
more  soldiers,  officers,  and  statesmen  ;  no  state  gave  more 
patriotic  or  brilliant  talents  to  the  councils  of  the  colonies ; 
no  state  had  more  weight  in  the  whole  movement  that  inaugu- 
rated the  republic,  than  Virginia.  Massachusetts  and  Virginia 
stood  together  at  the  front.  Different  in  the  manner  of  settle- 
ment, class  of  people  and  style  of  life,  they  were  yet  one  in 
political  sentiment  and  national  aspiration.  Massachusetts  was 
the  first  to  suffer;  yet  Virginia,  in  a  noble  sympathy,  made  the 
suffering  her  own.  Massachusetts  nominated  the  great  son  of 
Virginia  as  commander-in-chief  of  the  American  forces.  Though 
far  away,  her  quick  judgment  saw  his  great  worth,  and  begged 
to  trust  her  all  to  his' wise  leadership.  When  appointed,  Wash- 
ington hastened  to  Massachusetts,  as  though  it  were  his  home, 
".nd  left  it  not  till  he  had  delivered  it  from  the  oppressor. 
Henry,  in  Virginia,  sounded  one  of  the  first  notes  of  the  war  of 
independence,  Avhich  rang  through  all  the  colonies  like  the  clarion 
of  deliverance;  and  Jefferson's  quick  pen  wrote  the  immortal 
Declaration  of  Independence.  Massachusetts,  with  a  wisdom 

327 


328  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

and  fortitude  half  divine,  worked  out  the  patterns  of  nation- 
ality, while  she  fought  off  the  oppressor.'  These  two  great 
colonies  must  ever  be  held  the  two  elder  sisters  that  led  all  the 
rest  to  the  achievements  of  state  and  national  existence. 

The  seven  Virginia  presidents,  in  their  order,  were:  Wash- 
ington, Jefferson,  Madison,  Monroe,  Harrison,  Tyler  and  Taylor. 

Virginia  has  long  been  called,  the  "Old  Dominion."  In  her 
old  estate  she  was  grandly  productive  of  great  talent,  particularly 
talent  for  statesmanship. 

It  is  to  be  hoped  that  in  her  new  estate,  she  may  be  nourishing 
the  scions  of  the  old  stock,  which  shall  give  the  country  more 
and  still  more,  through  all  the  generations,  such  men  as  honored 
her  and  the  nation  in  the  past. 

BIRTH   AND   BOYHOOD. 

Zachary  Taylor  was  born  November  24,  1784,  in  Orange 
county,  Virginia.  He  was  the  third  child  of  Colonel  Richard 
Taylor,  who  was  an  active  patriot  and  soldier  of  the  revolution. 
Little  is  given  of  his  father's  history,  only  that  he  became 
colonel  in  the  army  under  Washington.  This  indicates  some- 
thing of  his  ability  and  standing. 

Like  many  other  Virginians,  Colonel  Taylor  turned  his  face 
westward,  soon  after  the  revolution,  to  help  settle  up  the  rich 
lands  occupied  only  by  the  wild  animals  and  savage  Indians. 
Washington  did  much  to  promote  this  westward  movement.  In 
his  early  life  he  had  become  familiar  with  much  of  the  territory 
on  the  Ohio  and  Lake  Erie,  and  saw  the  possibilities  for  civiliza- 
tion there  opened  to  the  human  tides  that  would  soon  flow  that 
way.  While  Zachary  was  an  infant,  Colonel  Taylor,  in  1785, 
moved  with  his  family  to  Kentucky,  a  few  miles  out  from  what 
is  now  the  city  of  Louisville,  and  there  built  his  cabin  and 
founded  his  home.  This  year,  1884,  is  the  hundredth  anniver- 
sary of  Zachary's  birth;  next  year,  the  hundredth  of  his  removal 
to  the  western  wilds.  Did  his  father,  did  Washington,  did  any 
of  the  men  of  that  time,  foresee,  or  even  dream  of,  what  a 
hundred  years  would  bring  to  these  lands  of  the  forest,  the  wild 
animals  and  the  Indian?  Did  they  conceive  of  Louisville,  Gin- 


ZACHARY   TAYLOR. 

cinnati,  Pittsburgh,  Cleveland,  Detroit,  Chicago,  St.  Louis,  and 
New  Orleans,  and  all  between  and  beyond  them  in  the  brief 
period  of  one  century?  Were  any  so  fanatical  on  American 
development,  as  to  anticipate  what  has  really  come  to  pass? 
The  American  revolution  and  American  respect  for  humanity, 
gave  such  an  impetus  to  men's  desire  for  improvement,  that  the 
eyes  of  millions  of  Europe's  cramped  and  oppressed  people  were 
turned  to  the  room  and  freedom  and  comfort  offered  to  them  in 
America.  How  much  greater  was  the  work  of  Washington  and 
his  compatriots,  than  they  conceived!  May  it  not  be  as  true 
that  the  good  work  of  this  generation  may  be  as  much  greater 
than  we  conceive?  Who  can  fathom  the  efficiency  that  Provi- 
dence gives  to  the  good  works  of  men  ? 

Zachary  Taylor  grew  up  in  the  wilderness.  He  was  educated 
to  the  use  of  the  axe,  the  hoe  and  the  plow;  to  the  use  of  the 
rifle,  the  capture  of  the  wild  beast  and  the  defense  against  the 
Indians.  This  education  of  the  forest  is  far  greater  than  many 
suppose.  It  develops  strength,  resolution,  fortitude,  shrewdness, 
sagacity,  courage,  foresight,  independence  of  judgment,  prompt- 
ness of  action,  anticipation  of  danger;  in  a  word,  all  the  quali- 
ties of  mind  necessary  to  a  frontiersman,  to  a  remarkable  degree. 

To  a  quick,  bold,  hardy,  clear-headed  boy  like  Zachary 
Taylor  this  education  of  the  woods  was  not  without  its  grand 
results.  If  it  did  not  give  polish,  it  gave  strength;  if  it  did  not 
acquaint  him  with  the  world,  it  gave  him  a  knowledge  of  the 
forces  of  nature  and  of  himself,  and  of  that  part  of  mankind 
that  he  came  in  contact  with.  It  was  an  education  that  made 
him  a  man  mighty  in  his  field  of  action.  When  about  six  years 
old  he  had  a  private  teacher  by  the  name  of  Ayers,  who 
instructed  him  in  the  rudiments  of  English  learning.  Some- 
thing, no  doubt,  was  gained  from  the  rude  schools  of  his 
neighborhood,  while  a  youth.  The  help  of  his  parents  added 
something,  and  the  books  brought  from  Virginia  contributed 
something;  but,  in  the  main,  his  was  the  education  of  face  to 
face  contact  with  things.  The  work  and  business  of  his  father's 
large  plantation  and  the  contact  with  the  wild  world  around  him 
were  his  principal  schools. 


330  OUR    PRESIDENTS. 


ZACHARY   TAYLOR  THE    SOLDIER. 

His  elder  brother,  Hancock,  a  lieutenant  in  the  tlnited 
States  army,  died  in  1808,  when  Zachary  was  twenty-four  years 
of  age.  His  father  secured  the  commission  for  him. 

His  father's  military  career,  his  reminiscences  of  the  revo- 
lutionary war,  Hancock's  interest  in  the  army,  followed  by 
Zachary 's  desire  to  take  his  place  after  his  death,  indicate  a 
military  tendency  in  the  family. 

He  soon  joined  the  army  at  New  Orleans  as  lieutenant  in  the 
seventh  regiment  of  United  States  infantry. 

In  1810  he  was  married  to  Miss  Margaret  Smith,  of  Mary- 
land. The  next  November  he  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of 
captain.  In  1811  he  was  given  the  command  of  Fort  Knox,  on 
the  Wabash,  in  the  vicinity  of  Vincennes.  This  was  at  the 
time  Tecumseh  and  his  brother,  the  Prophet,  were  seeking  to 
arouse  and  ally  all  the  Indian  tribes  in  opposition  to  the 
further  advance  of  the  whites  upon  Indian  territory.  The 
Prophet  had  established  his  headquarters  on  the  Tippecanoe,  a 
branch  of  the  Wabash,  and  formed  there  an  Indian  town,  where  the 
chiefs  and  leading  warriors  gathered  for  consultation  and  action. 
The  threatening  danger  from  this  Indian  gathering  and  hostility 
made  it  important  that  all  the  outposts  which  had  been  planted 
should  be  firmly  held.  Captain  Taylor  was  sent  out  on  this 
mission  against  the  Prophet,  to  watch  him  and  hold  him  in  check. 

In  1812  the  war  wit^i  England  broke  out,  and  the  Indians 
were  made  all  the  more  bold  and  determined.  There  was  still 
a  more  advanced  post  which  General  Harrison  had  established 
the  year  before,  and  was  called  by  his  name,  seventy-five  miles 
from  Vincennes  and  fifty  beyond  any  white  settlement.  It  was 
hastily  made,  and  consisted  of  a  row  of  log  huts  as  one  side  of  a 
square,  the  other  three  sides  being  defended  by  rows  of  high 
pickets.  At  each  end  of  the  row  of  huts  was  a  block-house.  To 
this  fort  Captain  Taylor  was  ordered  with  a  company  of  infantry 
of  some  fifty  men,  illy  provided  both  for  comfort  and  defense. 

On  the  third  of  September,  two  of  his  men  were  murdered 
not  far  from  the  fort.  Late  in  the  afternoon  of  the  fourth, 


ZACHARY  TAYLOR.  331 

thirty  or  forty  Indians  came  from  the  Prophet's  town,  bearing  a 
white  flag.  They  were  chiefs  of  different  tribes.  They  told 
Captain  Taylor  that  the  principal  chief  would  make  him  a 
speech  the  next  morning,  and  that  they  had  come  for  something 
to  eat. 

Captain  Taylor  was  too  shrewd  to  be  deceived  by  their  craft. 
As  soon  as  they  were  out  of  sight,  he  had  everything  put  in 
order  for  an  attack.  Many  of  his  men  were  sick,  yet  they  were 
all  provided  with  arms  and  commanded  to  sleep  on  them. 
About  eleven  o'clock  at  night  the  garrison  was  aroused  by  the 
firing  of  a  sentinel.  The  Indians  were  there  in  force,  and  rushed 
to  the  attack  with  their  deafening  yells  and  war-whoops.  The 
firing  on  both  sides  became  general.  The  fierce  yells  of  the 
savages  who  filled  the  woods  and  crowded  about  the  fort,  firing 
rapidly,  made  night  hideous.  Soon  it  was  learned  that  the 
savages  had  set  fire  to  one  of  the  block-houses.  The  flames 
spread  rapidly,  and  the  Indians  redoubled  their  yells  and  work 
of  death.  The  women  inside,  for  there  were  a  few  women  in 
the  camp,  added  their  screams  to  the  horrid  tumult  of  the  scene. 
The  captain  ordered  buckets  of  water  to  be  put  on  the  fire,  but 
many  of  his  men  were  too  much  excited  to  execute  orders.  He 
had  to  personally  superintend  the  putting  out  of  the  fire  and 
repairing  the  breach.  There  were  quantities  of  whisky  stored 
in  the  block-house  which  got  on  fire  and  increased  the  fierce- 
ness of  the  flames.  Altogether  it  was  a  scene  of  horror.  Yet 
Captain  Taylor  so  controlled  his  men  as  to  keep  them  at  their 
posts  and  their  work,  keep  the  fire  under  control,  and  hold  the 
desperate  savages  so  at  bay  that  they  made  no  inroad,  till  the 
morning  light  sent  them  flying  from  the  sure  aim  of  his  men. 

There  were  but  two  men  wounded  and  one  killed,  while  the 
Indian  loss  was  heavy.  The  failure  of  the  fire  to  open  a  way 
into  the  fort,  made  the  defeat  of  the  Indians  inevitable  with  so 
cool  a  leader  in  the  fort  as  Captain  Taylor. 

For  this  heroic  defense  of  this  exposed  fort,  Captain  Taylor 
was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  major,  by  brevet. 

Major  Taylor  continued  in  the  service  in  the  vicinity  till 
1814,  when  he  was  put  at  the  head  of  troops  in  Missouri. 


332  OUR    PRESIDENTS. 

The  next  December  he  was  ordered  to  return  to  Vincennes, 
to  have  charge  of  the  forces  in  Indiana,  where  he  continued  till 
the  close  of  the  war. 

After  peace  was  declared,  he  resigned  his  commission  and 
retired  to  his  farm  near  Louisville. 

In  1816,  he  was  reinstated  in  the  army  with  his  original  rank 
of  major,  and  placed  in  command  of  Fort  Crawford,  at  the 
mouth  of  Fox  river,  which  empties  into  Green  bay. 

His  command  was  changed  from  place  to  place  in  the  west 
till  the  breaking  out  of  the  Black  Hawk  war  in  1832,  when  he 
was  again  called  to  active  service  in  the  field. 

In  1832,  he  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  Colonel,  and  served 
under  General  Atkinson  in  his  various  campaigns  against  the 
Indians.  He  commanded  the  regulars  in  the  battle  of  Wiscon- 
sin, which  resulted  in  the  capture  of  Black  Hawk  and  the 
Prophet,  and  the  termination  of  the  war. 

The  Seminole  war  in  Florida  still  dragged  along.  For  years 
and  years  it  had  been  a  vexation  and  an  expense.  The  deep 
everglades  of  Florida  afforded  retreats  for  the  Indians,  where 
they  lived  in  safety  and  from  which  they  came  out  at  their 
pleasure,  to  annoy  and  destroy.  Different  generals  had  been 
given  command,  and  much  blood  and  treasure  had  been  appar- 
ently wasted.  Even  General  Jackson  had  tried  his  skillful  hand 
at  it,  and  gave  it  up. 

Now  Colonel  Taylor  was  ordered  to  this  disheartening  com- 
mand. He  concluded  at  once  not  to  let  the  Indians  conduct 
the  war  any  longer  in  their  own  way.  That  way  had  been  to 
avoid  a  battle,  and  skirmish,  creep  up  in  ambush  to  sentinels, 
outposts,  foraging  parties,  stragglers,  and  kill,  destroy  and  steal. 
They  destroyed  our  forces  in  detail,  and  were  not  long  in  deci- 
mating an  army  and  sending  it  back  for  recruits.  Colonel  Taylor 
resolved  to  force  them  to  fight  his  way,  which  was  in  open 
battle.  His  plan  was  to  penetrate  their  jungles  and  find  their 
headquarters  and  to  force  them  to  defend  them.  He  made  the 
needful  preparation,  and  went  in  where  white  foot  had  never  trod 
before.  Following  their  trails,  he  crossed  rivers,  bayous,  bogs, 
swamps;  cut  his  way  through  tangles;  bridged,  waded,  made 


ZACHARY  TAYLOE.  833 

roads  ;  taking  his  army  in  force,  and  bringing  along  provisions 
and  hospital  stores,  bound  to  sweep  the  dismal  regions  clear  of 
savages.  He  was  shrewder  than  any  Indian,  and  knew  his  game. 

After  something  like  a  hundred  and  fifty  miles  of  this  boring 
into  the  wilds,  he  came  to  the  vicinity  of  his  enemy.  His  lair 
was  on  a  gentle  elevation  of  dry  land,  in  the  midst  of  a  vast 
swamp.  It  was  an  island  in  a  morass.  Here  were  the  Indian 
stores,  cattle,  horses,  everything  they  had  stolen  for  years.  In 
this  retreat  they  had  believed  themselves  safe.  It  was  called 
the  Okeechobee. 

On  the  twenty-third  of  December,  1837,  Colonel  Taylor  led 
his  army  through  the  swamp  into  the  face  of  the  foe  he  had  so 
long  hunted  for.  A  general  engagement  was  brought  on,  which 
lasted  about  three  hours,  when  the  Indians  gave  way  and  scat- 
tered into  the  swamp.  Both  sides  suffered  about  equally. 
Colonel  Taylor  lost  thirty  men  and  had  one  hundred  and 
twelve  wounded.  The  wounded  were  carried  back  .on  rude 
litters  made  from  dried  hides  found  at  the  Indian  camp,  fast- 
ened to  poles.  In  Colonel  Taylor's  report  he  says:  "This  col- 
umn in  six  weeks  penetrated  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  into 
the  enemy's  country;  opened  roads  and  constructed  bridges  and 
causeways,  when  ecessary,  on  the  greater  portion  of  the  rotite; 
established  two  depots  and  the  necessary  defenses  for  the  same, 
and  finally  overtook  and  beat  the  enemy  in  his  strongest  position. 
The  results  of  which  movements  and  battle  have  been  the  cap- 
ture of  thirty  of  the  hostiles,  the  coming  in  and  surrendering  of 
more  than  a  hundred  and  fifty  Indians  and  negroes,  mostly  the 
former,  including  the  chiefs  Oulatoochec,  Tustanuggee,  and 
other  principal  men ;  the  capturing  and  driving  out  of  the 
country  six  hundred  head  of  cattle,  upward  of  one  hundred 
head  of  horses,  besides  obtaining  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the 
country  through  which  we  operated,  a  great  proportion  of 
which  was  entirely  unknown,  except  to  the  enemy." 

Colonel  Taylor  was  employed  some  two  years  in  this  service 
in  the  everglades,  swamps  and  wilds  of  Florida.  He  brought  to 
an  end  the  long  Seminole  war.  The  Indians  never  recovered 
from  the  blow  given  them  at  the  Okeechobee.  A  few  of  them 


334  CUE   PRESIDENTS. 

did  private  mischief  for  awhile,  but  gradually  disappeared  west 
of  the  Mississippi  and  coalesced  with  other  tribes. 

For  this  signal  service  Colonel  Taylor  was  breveted  with  the 
rank  of  brigadier-general. 

General  Taylor,  at  his  own  request,  was  relieved  from  further 
service  in  Florida  and  given  command  of  the  department  of  the 
southwest,  which  embraced  Louisiana,  Mississippi,  Alabama  and 
Georgia.  He  made  his  headquarters  at  Fort  Jessup,  in  Louisi- 
ana, and  purchased  a  plantation  near  Baton  Eouge,  to  which 
he  removed  his  family.  Here,  in  this  department,  he  remained 
for  five  years  in  the  faithful  discharge  of  the  duties  of  his 
position,  almost  buried  from  a  knowledge  of  the  world. 

General  Taylor  had  now  fought  through  three  Indian  wars — 
the  Tecumseh  war,  the  Black-Hawk  war  and  the  Seminole 
war — had  done  much  hard  service,  and  seen  much  privation 
and  suffering.  The  good  of  life  had  almost  entirely  been  sacri- 
ficed to  his  country,  on  these  out-posts,  as  life's  good  is  usually 
understood.  Now  a  new  experience  is  about  to  open  to  him. 

In  the  spring  of  1845  Congress  passed  a  joint  resolution 
annexing  Texas  to  the  Union.  Texas  had  been  a  scene  of  con- 
flict for  many  years.  It  had  declared  itself  independent  of 
Mexico,  and  fought  to  maintain  its  position.  It  became  an 
indepent  republic  and  was  called  the  "Lone  Star,"  because  it 
was  a  single  state.  Then  it  asked  for  annexation  to  the  United 
States,  and  Congress  heard  the  request  with  more  than  willing 
ear,  expecting  it  would  bring  on  a  war  with  Mexico.  General 
Taylor,  being  the  nearest  commanding  general  to  Texas,  was 
asked  to  have  his  troops  in  readiness  for  service  on  the  western 
Texan  border.  He  was  not  commanded  to  go,  yet  it  was  made 
clear  to  him  that  the  government  wanted  him  on  the  frontier. 
It  was,  morever,  made  clear  to  him  that  the  government  would 
be  pleased  if  he  would  so  annoy  the  Mexicans  on  the  border  as 
to  bring  on  a  conflict.  Mexico  was  weak  and  treacherous,  and 
would  never  be  submissive  to  the  loss  of  Texas  till  she  was 
whipped  into  submission.  Knowing  what  was  desired  of  him  by 
his  government,  yet  receiving  no  direct  command,  he  could 
only  wait.  But  after  awhile  Secretary  Marcy  ordered  him  to 


ZACHARY   TAYLOR.  335 

repair  to  the  Neuces  river  and  take  up  a  position  of  observation 
at  Corpus  Christi,  on  the  western  bank.  In  August  he  took  his 
position  at  the  designated  place  with  fifteen  hundred  men ;  in 
November  his  army  was  increased  to  four  thousand  men.  Hints 
came  frequently  from  Washington  that  he  ought  to  move  for- 
ward to  the  Rio  Grande,  two  hundred  miles  further  west.  But 
he  was  a  soldier  and  obeyed  orders  from  authority,  not  hints 
from  anywhere. 

The  situation  was  about  this.  Mexico  held  that  the  Neuces 
river  was  the  western  boundary  of  Texas.  By  her  claim  General 
Taylor  was  already  on  her  territory  with  an  armed  force,  which 
was  a  cause  of  war.  But  as  yet  she  did  nothing  about  it,  and  he 
had  peaceable  possession.  The  southern  people  of  the  Union, 
in  the  main,  coveted  the  territory  to  the  Eio  Grande.  The  United 
States  as  a  whole  was  covetous.  The  people  generally  wanted 
all  the  territory  they  could  get.  They  were-  not  particularly 
scrupulous  about  how  they  got  it.  A  few  people,  especially 
at  the  North,  and  more  especially  those  opposed  to  slavery, 
objected  to  any  extension  of  territory  south  west  ward.  In  due 
time  it  became  apparent  to  the  government  that  the  people 
would  sustain  its  movement  to  the  Rio  Grande,  and  General 
Taylor  was  ordered  forward,  and  Commodore  Conner  to  the 
mouth  of  the  river  with  his  naval  force. 

On  his  march  across  the  prairies  of  the  region  between  the 
Neuces  and  the  Rio  Grande,  General  Taylor  found  a  Mexican 
force  drawn  up  on  the  western  bank  of  the  Colorado  river,  but 
too  weak  to  offer  any  resistance.  The  Mexican  commander 
simply  protested  against  an  invasion  of  Mexican  territory.  But 
Taylor  pushed  on  and  was  soon  on  the  east  bank  of  the  Rio 
Grande  opposite  the  Mexican  city  of  Matamoras.  Here  General 
Taylor  built  Fort  Brown,  the  guns  of  which  pointed  into  the 
public  square  of  Matamoras,  within  easy  range.  Twelve  miles 
south  was  Point  Isabel  on  the  gulf,  selected  as  the  supply  station 
from  the  ships  of  the  navy. 

General  Taylor  blockaded  Brazos  Santiago,  the  port  of 
Matamoras,  and  ordered  off  two  supply  ships  of  the  Mexicans, 
He  acted  as  though  on  his  own  territory. 


336  OUE   PRESIDENTS. 

A  deputy  quarter-master  was  killed  not  far  from  the  camp. 
A  band  of  United  States  soldiers  in  pursuit  of  those  who  had 
killed  him,  were  met  by  a  band  of  Mexicans  and  several  shots 
exchanged.  Before  they  reached  the  camp  another  band  of 
Mexicans  fired  upon  them.  A  few  of  the  United  States  cavalry 
on  an  excursion,  were  attacked  and  several  killed.  So,  little  by 
little,  a  general  conflict  was  brought  on. 

Point  Isabel  was  threatened  with  a  force  of  fifteen  hundred 
Mexicans.  General  Taylor,  in  force,  went  to  its  relief.  Fort 
Brown,  left  in  charge  of  Major  Brown  and  a  small  force,  was 
fired  upon  from  the  Mexican  ranks  in  Matamoras.  The  Mexi- 
cans kept  up  the  bombardment  for  several  days.  They  sent  a 
force  of  six  thousand  across  the  river  to  surround  it  and  attack 
it  in  the  rear.  Major  Brown  was  killed. 

General  Taylor,  hearing  of  the  attack,  started  back  with 
twenty-two  hundred  men.  On  reaching  the  vicinity  of  the  fort 
he  found  the  Mexican  army  drawn  up  on  the  open  prairie  to 
dispute  his  further  progress.  He  at  once  arranged  his  army  of 
about  one  third  the  number,  in  battle  order.  The  armies  stood 
for  twenty  minutes,  facing  each  other  in  silence.  At  length  a 
Mexican  battery  fired  a  single  shot,  which  opened  the  conflict. 
It  was  chiefly  a  battle  of  artillery  and  lasted  till  night  closed  it. 
The  tall  prairie  grass  took  fire  and  added  to  the  fierceness  of  the 
scene. 

The  Mexicans  retired  and  took  up  a  well-selected  position  a 
few  miles  distant.  This  was  the  battle  of  Palo  Alto,  about 
which  great  things  were  said.  Four  Americans  were  killed  and 
thirty-two  wounded.  The  Mexican  loss  was  two  hundred  and 
sixty-two. 

The  next  morning  General  Taylor  pushed  on  in  pursuit  of 
his  departed  enemy,  which  he  found  some  three  or  four  miles 
away,  posted  in  a  ravine  called  Easaca  de  la  Palma.  The  position 
was  in  the  midst  of  a  thicket  of  dwarf  oaks.  Here  Arista,  the 
Mexican  general,  thought  to  make  a  firm  stand.  The  battle 
began  with  artillery,  and  soon  engaged  the  infantry  and  cavalry. 
It  was  hotly  contested.  But  the  superior  intelligence  of  General 
Taylor's  men  made  their  work  more  efficient,  and  the  Mexican 


ZACHARY  TAYLOR.  337 

line  broke  and  gave  way,  pursued  by  Taylor's  troops  for  some 
distance.  General  Taylor's  loss  was  about  one  hundred  and  fifty, 
while  the  Mexicans  are  said  to  have  lost  a  thousand  in  killed, 
wounded  and  missing. 

The  news  of  these  two  victories  was  trumpeted  round  the 
land,  rousing  the  martial  valor  of  the  people  to  a  high  enthu- 
siasm. "On  to  the  halls  of  the  Montezumas,"  was  the  war  cry 
now.  The  opposition  to  the  war  was  overwhelmed  in  the 
tumult  of  the  war  excitement.  Congress  authorized  the  presi- 
dent to  accept  fifty  thousand  volunteers.  Brigadier-General 
Taylor  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  major-general  by  brevet. 
He  became  a  hero  at  once.  Congress  and  several  state  legisla- 
tures passed  resolutions  of  compliment.  The  papers  lauded  him. 
The  people  talked  about  him.  The  title  his  soldiers  sometimes 
called  him  by,  "  Old  Rough  and  Ready/'  sounded  euphonious  to 
the  people  who  were  hungering  for  a  military  hero.  The  parties 
interested  in  the  war  and  the  extension  of  territory  it  was  meant 
to  secure,  had  an  easy  time  in  kindling  a  flame  of  patriotic 
enthusiasm  over  the  glory  of  American  arms. 

On  the  eighteenth  of  May,  a  few  days  after  the  two  battles, 
having  obtained  pontoon  bridges,  General  Taylor  crossed  the 
Rio  Grande,  unopposed,  and  took  possession  of  the  city.  He 
was  now  on  Mexican  territory,  and  in  possession  of  a  Mexican 
city,  by  common  consent.  War  was  declared  by  his  action. 
The  thing  so  long  desired  and  planned  for — war  with  Mexico — 
was  now  a  reality.  That  part  of  the  country  which  favored  it 
was  ablaze,  and  the  light  of  that  blaze  was  pretty  much  all 
there  was  to  be  seen. 

President  Polk  hastened  to  write  to  him,  in  transmitting  his 
title  of  major-general: 

"It  gives  me  sincere  pleasure,  immediately  upon  the  receipt 
of  official  intelligence  from  the  scene  of  your  achievements,  to 
confer  upon  you,  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the 
senate,  this  testimonial  of  the  estimate  which  your  government 
nJaces  upon  your  skill  and  gallantry. 

'•' To  yourself,  and  the  brave  officers  and  soldiers  under  your 
command,  the  gratitude  of  the  country  is  justly  due.  Our  army 


338  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

have  fully  sustained  their  deservedly  high  reputation,  and  added 
another  bright  page  to  the  history  of  American  valor  and  patri- 
otism. They  have  won  new  laurels  for  themselves  and  their 
country/' 

-  But  while  the  government  and  people  Avere  in  this  frenzy  of 
delight,  General  Taylor  was  anxious  and  restless.  He  had  now 
Fort  Brown,  Point  Isabel  and  Matamoras,  all  in  his  possession, 
and  must  hold  them.  General  Arista  had  proposed  a  cessation 
of  hostilities,  till  the  two  governments  could  settle  the  question 
of  boundary,  and  he  had  refused  it.  He  was  in  the  enemy's 
country,  with  hardly  men  enough  to  hold  his  position,  while  the 
country  expected  him  to  go  on  to  the  capital.  And  yet  he  must 
wait  here  for  reinforcements.  And  he  did  wait  three  months. 

Late  in  July  the  reinforcements,  supplies,  and  sixteen  hun- 
dred mules,  to  carry  the  luggage,  came  and  made  it  possible  to 
move  forward.  His  plan  was  to  go  to  Monterey  and  take  that. 
Of  course  the  long  delay  had  given  the  Mexicans  ample  time  to 
prepare  to  meet  him. 

It  was  generally  supposed  that  the  Mexicans  would  not 
attempt  a  strong  opposition  at  Monterey,  but  would  tempt  the 
Americans  farther  into  the  heart  of  the  country,  and  General 
Taylor  was  of  this  opinion.  But  as  they  neared  the  city  the 
people  told  them  of  the  opposition  they  would  meet.  As 
they  approached  the  city  they  found  it  a  military  garrison. 
The  houses  were  of  stone  and  flat  roofed,  and  the  soldiers  were 
posted  on  the  roofs.  Every  street  was  barricaded,  and  every 
preparation  which  Mexican  ingenuity  could  invent  was  used  to 
defend  the  city.  After  viewing  the  situation,  so  as  to  under- 
stand it,  General  Worth  was  sent  with  a  strong  force  around  to 
the  opposite  side  of  the  city  to  begin  the  attack.  The  city  was 
defended  by  ten  thousand  men,  about  two  thirds  of  them  regu- 
lar troops.  General  Taylor  had  six  thousand  two  hundred  and 
twenty  men. 

The  attack  was  begun  by  General  Worth  on  the  twenty-first 
of  September.  General  Taylor  opened  upon  the  city  from  his 
side.  By  evening  both  parts  of  the  army  had  gained  a  foot- 
hold in  the  city.  The  next  day  the  Mexicans  had  withdrawn 


ZACHARY  TAYLOR.  33d 

from  before  Taylor,  and  not  much  was  done  by  his  division. 
Worth  pressed  forward  and  attacked  and  carried  the  Bishop's 
Palace,  which  was  one  of  the  most  strongly  fortified  positions. 
On  the  twenty-third  both  divisions  pressed  the  attack  with 
great  force.  The  next  morning,  the  twenty-fourth,  prepara- 
tions for  capitulation  were  made,  and  before  night  Monterey, 
with  its  munitions  of  war,  was  in  the  hands  of  General  Taylor. 
General  Ampudia,  with  his  Mexican  force,  was  allowed  to  retire. 
The  loss  of  the  Americans  was  one  hundred  and  twenty  killed 
and  three  hundred  and  sixty-eight  wounded.  The  Mexican  loss 
is  not  known.  Here  was  another  victory  for  General  Taylor, 
which  was  sounded  through  the  country  with  the  greatest  enthu- 
siasm. Those  who  had  instigated  the  war  did  not  fail  to  make 
the  most  of  their  new  opportunity  to  carry  the  popular  thought 
from  the  cause  and  purpose  of  the  war  to  the  glory  of  the 
national  arms.  The  battle  no  doubt  was  a  fierce  one,  and  was 
conducted  with  great  skill  and  courage. 

After  this  battle,  General  Taylor  took  possession  of  the 
smaller  places  about  Monterey,  and  the  country  in-  the  vicinity. 

Santa  Anna  had  by  this  time  been  recalled  to  the  presidency 
of  Mexico,  and  Parades  deposed.  Santa  Anna  was  made  com- 
mander-in-chief  of  the  Mexican  forces,  with  the  power  of  dicta- 
tor. He  at  once  set  about  raising  all  the  forces  and  using  all 
the  power  of  Mexico  to  resist  the  invader.  Before  December, 
he  had  gathered  an  army  of  twenty  thousand  men,  at  San  Luis 
Potosi,  which  he  fortified  according  to  his  best  skill,  and  pro- 
vided with  ample  military  stores. 

In  the  meantime,  General  Taylor  had  been  superseded  in  the 
general  command,  by  General  Winfield  Scott. 

General  Scott  fixed  his  attention  on  Vera  Cruz  as  the  point 
of  chief  importance,'  and  withdrew  some  of  General  Taylor's 
experienced  soldiers.  As  early  as  February,  recruits  were 
obtained  to  fill  the  places  of  those  taken  away,  and  General  Tay- 
lor resolved  to  move  toward  Santa  Anna.  On  the  twentieth  he 
reached  Agua  Nueva,  some  thirty  miles  from  Monterey.  Here 
he  learned  that  Santa  Anna  was  approaching  with  a  force  of 
twenty  thousand  men,  some  thirty  miles  away.  He  at  once 


340  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

resolved  to  choose  his  battle-ground  and  wait  for  his  adversary. 
On  the  twenty-first,  he  moved  to  his  chosen  position,  a  little  in 
front  of  the  hacienda  of  Buena  Vista,  seven  miles  south  of  Sal- 
tillo.  Before  arrangements  could  be  completed  on  the  morning 
of  the  twenty-second,  the  advance  line  of  Santa  Anna  was  in 
sight.  At  eleven  o'clock  Santa  Anna  sent  a  summons  to  sur- 
render at  discretion.  He  received  for  answer  that  General  Tay- 
lor did  not  surrender.  Very  soon  after,  skirmishing  began,  but 
no  general  fighting.  The  next  morning,  the  twenty-third,  the 
battle  became  general,  which  lasted  with  varying  fortunes  for 
more  than  two  days.  On  the  twenty-sixth,  Santa  Anna  with- 
drew ;  and  on  the  twenty-seventh  General  Taylor  returned  to  his 
former  camp  at  Agua  Nueva. 

The  strength  of  the  Mexican  army  Avas  stated  by  Santa  Anna, 
in  his  summons,  to  be  twenty  thousand  men.  The  American 
army  engaged  was  three  hundred  and  thirty-four  officers  and 
four  thousand  four  hundred  and  twenty-five  men.  The  Amer- 
ican loss  was  two  hundred  and  sixty-seven  killed,  four  hundred 
and  fifty-six  wounded,  and  twenty-three  missing.  The  Mexican 
loss  in  killed,  wounded  and  missing  was  supposed  to  be  over  one 
thousand  five  hundred.  In  its  results,  the  victory  was  more 
decided  than  any  gained  before,  and  gave  greater  enthusiasm 
to  the  country.  As  a  consequence,  the  glory  of  conquest  filled 
many  minds,  and  General  Taylor  grew  into  a  military  genius. 

This  closed  General  Taylor's  military  career.  It  had  been 
one  of  uniform  success.  Whatever  foe  he  had  met,  he  had  con- 
quered. He  had  mastered  every  position  he  had  occupied.  He 
had  not  left  Mexico,  before  he  began  to  be  talked  of  for  pres- 
ident. 

PRESIDENT   TAYLOR. 

As  soon  as  General  Taylor  could  close  up  the  affairs  of  his 
command  he  returned  to  his  plantation  in  Mississippi,  receiving 
the  congratulations  of  the  people  on  the  way.  It  became 
evident  very  soon  that  he  would  not  be  allowed  to  rest.  The 
papers  and  the  talk  of  the  people  were  full  of  the  exploits  of  the 
hero  of  four  Mexican  fields. 


ZACHARY   TAYLOR. 

In  June,  1848,  the  national  convention  of  whigs  met  in 
Philadelphia.  The  name  of  General  Taylor  was  presented  as  a 
candidate  and  urged  with  great  zeal.  The  success  of  a  military 
candidate  in  General  Harrison  had  not  been  forgotten.  The 
need  of  a  hero  to  carry  the  masses,  and  the  certainty  that  Gen- 
eral Taylor  was  the  hero  of  a  vast  multitude  of  voters,  were  too 
important  matters  to  be  overlooked.  No  matter  if  he  knew 
nothing  about  politics;  no  matter  if  he  were  not  a  statesman; 
no  matter  if  he  had  not  voted  for  forty  years,  he  could  get  the 
votes  to  elect;  and  that  was  the  principal  thing,  the  party  man- 
agers would  see  to  the  rest.  So  on  the  third  vote  he  was  made 
the  nominee  of  the  convention,  with  Millard  Fillmore,  of  New 
York,  as  the  candidate  for  vioe-president. 

General  Taylor  did  not  seek,  but  rather  dreaded  the  promo- 
tion which  the  majority  of  the  party  desired  to  give  him.  He 
knew  little  of  statesmanship  and  was  satisfied  to  serve  his 
country  as  a  soldier.  "The  canvass  was  an  exciting  one,"  and 
resulted  in  making  General  Zachary  Taylor  twelfth  president  of 
the  United  States.  On  the  fourth  of  March,  1849,  he  was 
inaugurated,  with  Millard  Fillmore  as  vice-president. 

In  Congress  the  democrats  had  a  majority.  The  question  of 
slavery  was  the  principal  one  that  disturbed  the  country.  Cali- 
fornia applied  for  admission  into  the  Union.  The  southern 
democracy  opposed  it.  Texas  claimed  a  portion  of  New  Mexico, 
and  threatened  to  take  forcible  possession,  but  the  question  of 
the  prohibition  of  slavery  was  in  the  way.  Neither  the  north  or 
the  south  could  do  as  it  desired,  because  of  this  slavery  question. 
The  whole  question  was  discussed  under  Clay's  compromise 
measures. 

An  attempt  was  made  from  some  southern  ports  to  revolu- 
tionize the  island  of  Cuba.  President  Taylor  issued  a  vigorous 
proclamation  against  it,  which  Avas  generally  approved.  On  the 
fourth  of  July,  1850,  President  Taylor  attended  the  laying  of 
the  corner-stone  of  the  national  monument  to  Washington. 
The  heat  of  the  day,  it  is  believed,  brought  on  a  sickness  of 
which  he  died  on  the  ninth.  His  last  words  were:  "I  am  not 
afraid  to  die;  I  am  ready;  I  have  endeavored  to  do  my  duty." 


342  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

General  Scott  thus  sketched  his  character:  "With  a  good 
store  of  common  sense,  General  Taylor's  mind  had  not  been 
enlarged  by  reading  or  much  converse  with  the  world.  Rigidity 
of  ideas  was  the  consequence.  The  frontier  and  small  military 
posts  had  been  his  home.  Hence  he  was  quite  ignorant  for  his 
rank,  and  quite  bigoted  in  his  ignorance.  His  simplicity  was 
childlike,  and  with  innumerable  prejudices,  amusing  and  incor- 
rigible, well  suited  to  the  tender  age.  Thus,  if  a  man,  however 
respectable,  chanced  to  wear  a  coat  of  an  unusual  color,  or  his  hat 
a  little  on  one  side  of  his  head,  or  an  officer  to  have  a  corner  of  his 
handkerchief  dangling  from  an  outside  coat  pocket — in  any  such 
case  this  critic  held  the  offender  to  be  a  coxcomb  (perhaps  some- 
thing worse),  whom  he  would  not,  to  use  his  oft-repeated 
phrase,  'touch  with  a  pair  of  tongs.'  *  *  *  Yet  this  old 
soldier  and  neophite  statesman  had  the  true  basis  of  a  great 
character — pure,  uncorrupted  morals,  combined  with  indomit- 
able courage.  Kind,  sincere  and  hospitable  in  a  plain  way,  he 
had  no  vice  but  prejudice,  many  friends,  and  left  behind  him 
not  an  enemy  in  the  world." 


*P HE  fiRAVE  OF  XACHARY  BAYLOR. 

In  the  old  cemetery  on  the  ancestral  farm  of  the  Taylors 
rest  the  remains  of  President  Taylor.  It  is  five  miles  from  the 
eity  of  Louisville,  Kentucky,  on  the  Brownsboro  turnpike.  The 
cemetery  is  about  a  hundred  yards  from  the  family  mansion, 
and  holds  the  dust  of  three  generations  of  this  family.  A  few 
years  after  President  Taylor's  death,  Congress  made  an  appro- 
priation for  the  construction  of  an  appropriate  vault  in  which 
the  honored  remains  should  repose.  Within  a  few  years,  the 
State  of  Kentucky  appropriated  five  thousand  dollars  for  the 
erection  of  a  suitable  monument  over  the  vault.  The  caskets 
containing  the  dust  of  President  Taylor  and  his  wife  are 
separated  by  a  marble  bust  of  the  president. 


ZACHARY   TAYLOR.  343 

Many  stories  have  been  written  and  widely  circulated  to  the 
effect  that  President  Taylor's  remains  have  had  many  burials 
and  removals,  and  many  have  not  known  where  to  locate  their 
permanent  resting  place.  But  all  such  stories  are  mistakes, 
according  to  the  following  note  received  from  General  Richard 
Taylor,  nephew  of  President  Taylor,  December  31,  1883: 

General  Zachary  Taylor  has  never  been  buried,  notwithstanding  the 
many  stories  to  the  contrary.  He  died  in  1850,  and  his  remains  were 
immediately  brought  to  Kentucky  by  his  brother,  Commissary-General 
Joseph  P.  Taylor,  and  placed  in  a  vault  in  the  Taylor  cemetery,  on  his 
father's  old  farm,  five  miles  from  Louisville,  on  the  Jefferson  and  Browns- 
boro  turnpike.  A  few  months  later,  his  wife  died  at  Washington  City  and 
was  brought  and  placed  in  the  vault,  and  I  have  had  the  key  of  the  vault  and 
cemetery  ever  since.  It  is  a  very  pretty  place  ;  an  acre  in  size  and  inclosed 
by  a  nice,  substantial  stone  wall.  It  belongs  exclusively  to  our  family. 
General  Taylor's  father  and  mother,  brothers  and  sisters,  nieces  and  nephews, 
and  grand-nieces  and  nephews,  are  there.  The  monument  is  gray  granite, 
surmounted  by  a  marble  statue  from  Italy,  life-size  and  a  fine  likeness,  the 
whole  being  about  forty  feet  from  the  base.  The  inscriptions  were  all 
suggested  by  me,  and  are  very  appropriate.  The  monument  was  virtually 
completed  July  4,  1883,  but  was  not  unveiled  until  September. 

The  granite  was  quarried  and  worked  in  the  State  of  Maine. 
The  lower  base  is  seven  feet  six  inches  square;  upon  the  third 
or  upper  base  rests  the  die  block,  on  the  front  of  which  is  this 
inscription : 


TWELFTH  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES,  jj 
Born  November  24,  1784. 


Died  July  9,  1850. 


On  the  opposite  side,  in  base  relief,  are  the  coat  of  arms  of 
the  United  States  with  the  implements  of  war. 

On  the  other  two  sides  of  the  monument  are  inscribed  the 
names  of  his  principal  battles  in  the  Mexican  war: 


344 


OUR    PRESIDENTS. 


On  the  other  side: 


PALO  ALTO. 

Resaca  de  la  Palma. 

MONTEREY. 

Buena  Vista. 


Fort  Harrison. 

BLACK  HAWK. 

Okeechobee. 


On  the  front  of  the  cap  is  the  monogram 


Just  above  this  are  inscribed  the  dying  words  of  the  old  hero: 

in  i  ii  1  1  in  nil  mi  ii  it  i  n  1  1  ill  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  i  M  i  M  i  n  n  i  ii  1  1  M  i  1  1  1  i  ^ 


9 


/  haw  endeavored  to  do  my  duty; 

I  am  ready  to  die; 

My  only  regret  is  for  the  friends 

I  leave  behind  me. 


BIIII  1  1  iililiriil  l:iriil!lil:l  l!l'l[|:i[|il:i:iil  |)|  1:1  1  1  1  lil;l:lil  HI  HI  IHHililil  I  HI  1  1  1  in  I  l 

On  the  front  of  the  shaft  is  a  medallion  of  the  general,  cast  in 
antique  bronze.  It  is  encircled  by  a  wreath  of  olive,  carved 
from  the  granite.  Upon  the  shaft  rests  the  capital,  surmounted 
by  a  colossal  statue  of  the  finest  Italian  marble,  representing 
General  Taylor  in  full  military  dress,  standing  at  rest  with 
sword  and  cap  in  hand. 

So,  though  late,  President  Taylor's  grave  is  monumented, 
and  the  country  is  honored  by  it. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

MILLAED  FILLMOBE. 

THIRTEENTH  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

OTHING  in  American  biography,  is  more  thoroughly 
j|  American  than  the  story  of  Millard  Fillmore's  life. 
It  compasses  the  distance  from  the  least  to  the  greatest 
in  human  condition — from  the  farm  to  the  presidency. 
And  it  ia  BO  full  of  what  is  genuine  and  common  in  the  life 
of  the  American  people,  that  it  illustrates  the  meaning  of 
this  government  and  the  providential  power  of  this  American 
development  of  humanity.  Here  is  a  great  life  which  shoots 
up  from  a  humble  home  in  the  forest,  because  it  grows  from  a 
strong  root  of  human  worth  and  is  nourished  by  freedom  and 
the  fostering  aids  of  wholesome  Christian  society. 

BIRTH   AND   EARLY   LIFE. 

Milliard's  father  was  Nathaniel  Fillmore,  of  Bennington, 
Vermont,  who  fought  as  a  lieutenant  in  the  battle  of  Benning- 
ton, under  General  Stark.  His  grandfather  had  the  same  name 
and  was  a  soldier  in  the  French  war.  Millard's  mother  was  the 
daughter  of  Doctor  Abiathar  Millard,  of  Pittsfield,  Massachusetts. 
She  is  said  to  have  been  a  woman  of  great  ability,  personal  worth 
and  accomplishments.  Mr.  Fillmore,  early  in  life,  went  into 
the  wilderness  of  Cayuga  county,  New  York,  where  Millard  was 
born  January  7,  1800.  The  place  he  purchased  in  the  wilderness 
was  four  miles  from  any  neighbor.  He  soon  found  that  the  title 

345 


346  CUE   PRESIDENTS. 

to  his  land  was  defective,  and  in  1802  he  left  it  and  went  to 
Sempronius,  now  Niles,  where  he  lived  till  1819,  when  he  moved 
to  Erie  county. 

Millard  was  trained  to  the  work  of  the  farm,  having  only  the 
simplest  advantages  for  the  rudiments  of  an  education.  At 
fifteen  he  had  read  almost  nothing  but  his  primary  school  books 
and  the  bible.  At  this  time  he  was  sent  into  Livingston  county 
to  learn  the  clothier's  trade.  After  a  few  months  an  arrange- 
ment was  made  for  him  to  pursue  the  same  business,  near  his 
father's.  Here  he  found  a  small  village  library,  from  which  he 
read  all  his  odd  time  for  four  years.  He  was  now  nineteen,  well 
grown,  manly,  intelligent.  The  village  library  had  quite 
transformed  him.  Judge  Walter  Wood  had  watched  him  with 
interest,  and  suggested  to  him  that  he  ought  to  study  law. 
Millard  indicated  his  lack  of  education  and  money.  The  judge 
told  him  that  hard  study  would  supply  the  want  of  education, 
and  he  would  himself  furnish  the  needed  money.  So  he  left  his 
trade  for  the  law  office  of  Judge  Wood,  where  in  study  and 
business  and  winter  school  teaching,  he  spent  two  profitable 
years.  Such  a  friend  as  Judge  Wood  had  changed  the  course  of 
his  life,  and  put  him  into  that  ascending  way  which  was  so 
important  to  him,  and  for  which  his  benefactor  was  amply 
repaid  in  due  time. 

In  the  fall  of  1821  he  went  to  his  father's  new  home  in  Erie 
county;  and  the  next  spring  into  a  law  office  in  Buffalo.  While 
studying  here  he  supported  himself  by  teaching  school,  assisting 
the  post  master  and  doing  such  little  tasks  as  he  could  get. 

MR.  FILLMORE  THE   LAWYER  AND   PUBLIC  MAN. 

In  the  spring  of  1823,  Mr.  Fillmore  was  admitted  to  the  bar 
and  began  practice  in  the  village  of  Aurora.  He  remained  here 
seven  years,  and  while  here,  married  Miss  Abigail  Powers, 
daughter  of  Reverend  Lemuel  Powers. 

His  success  as  a  lawyer  gained  him  an  invitation  to  a  partner- 
ship with  an  experienced  lawyer  in  Buffalo.  But  before  going, 
he  took  his  seat  in  the  lower  house  in  the  legislature  to  which  he 


MILLABD   FILLMORE.  347 

had  been  elected.  In  1830,  he  went  to  Buffalo;  was  re-elected 
the  two  succeeding  years  to  the  legislature;  made  such  a  record 
and  reputation  that  he  was  elected  to  Congress  in  1832;  and 
served  so  satisfactorily  that  he  was  re-elected  in  1836.  On  his 
second  term  in  Congress  Mr.  Fillmore  was  made  chairman 
of  the  committee  of  ways  and  means,  which  made  him  the 
leader  in  the  House.  The  country  was  in  need  of  wise  legisla- 
tion, to  restore  the  finances,  quicken  business,  pay  off  the  public 
debt  and  regain  confidence.  The  committee  of  ways  and  means 
were  to  lead  in  all  this.  One  of  the  most  difficult  works  this 
committee  had  to  do  was  to  revise  the  tariff.  Mr.  Fillmore  was 
an  ardent  friend  of  a  protective  tariff;  but  he  must  so  arrange 
the  tariff  that  all  parts  of  the  country  would  accept  it.  He 
gave  a  long  and  arduous  labor  to  this  subject  and  with  eminent 
success. 

In  1844,  Mr.  Fillmore  was  nominated  by  the  whig  party  of 
New  York  as  its  candidate  for  governor;  but  he  was  beaten  by 
Silas  Wright,  the  popular  candidate  of  the  other  party. 

In  1847,  the  whigs,  still  confident  of  his  popularity,  nominated 
him  for  comptroller,  and  elected  him  by  a  heavy  majority. 

In  June,  1848,  the  national  whig  convention  nominated  Mr. 
Fillmore  for  vice-president  on  the  ticket  with  Zachary  Taylor 
for  president.  The  popularity  of  the  old  soldier  who  had  fought 
the  Indians  through  half  his  life  on  the  frontier,  and  who  had 
just  gained  new  laurels  in  four  battles  in  Mexico,  was  measurably 
enhanced  by  the  dignity,  solidity  and  statesmanship  of  Millard 
Fillmore.  The  campaign  was  one  of  great  enthusiasm,  and  the 
whig  nominees  elected  with  a  strong  majority. 

VICE-PRESIDENT  FILLMORE. 

On  the  fourth  of  March,  1849,  Mr.  Fillmore  Avas  inaugurated 
vice-president  of  the  United  States.  His  chief  duty  was  to  pre- 
side over  the. Senate.  Mr.  Calhoun,  his  predecessor,  had  made 
it  a  rule  not  to  call  a  senator  to  order,  but  to  give  full  liberty  of 
debate,  as  each  one  chose  to  conduct  it.  On  taking  his  official 
place,  Mr.  Fillmore  addressed  the  Senate  on  the  importance  of 


348  OUR    PRESIDENTS. 

dignity,  decorum  and  directness  in  the  debates  of  the  Senate, 
and  declared  it  his  sense  of  duty  to  hold  each  member  to  the 
order  of  debate  and  to  be  himself  the  judge  of  that  order,  sub- 
ject always  to  an  appeal.  His  statement  of  his  idea  of  his  duty 
gave  great  satisfaction ;  and  although  he  presided  through 
stormy  debates,  no  one  ever  questioned  his  impartiality,  fair- 
ness, or  correctness. 

MR.    FILLMORE   THE   PRESIDENT. 

On  the  ninth  of  July,  1850,  President  Taylor  died,  and  it 
devolved  upon  vice-president  Fillmore  now  to  become  president 
in  his  stead.  He  appointed  an  able  cabinet,  Avith  Daniel 
Webster  as  his  secretary  of  state.  Mr.  Fillmore  came  into  the 
presidency  at  a  time  when  the  whole  country  was  in  one  of  its 
sharpest  debates  on  the  question  of  slavery.  The  war  with 
Mexico,  preceded  by  the  annexation  of  Texas,  had  opened 
immense  territories  for  the  extension  of  southern  institutions, 
and  this  had  awakened  the  north  to  a  new  zeal  against  the 
extension  of  slavery  and  the  abolitionists  to  new  fervors  in  their 
opposition  to  slavery  itself.  "Mr.  Clay's  compromise  measures 
had  failed  in  Congress.  So  Congress  was  open  to  do  what  it 
could.  Both  north  and  south  were  intent  on  doing  something. 
Texas,  the  "lone  star/'  warlike,  pro-slavery,  newly-made  sister 
state,  was  threatening  to  invade  New  Mexico,  and  the  president 
sent  troops  there  at  once  to  keep  the  peace,  and  laid  the  matter 
before  Congress. 

Various  acts  were  soon  passed  by  Congress  instead  of  Mr. 
Clay's  compromise  bill,  all  carrying  out  the  compromise  features 
of  that  bill,  among  them,  one  for  the  return  of  fugitive  slaves. 
Mr.  Fillmore  asked  the  attorney  general's  opinion  as  to  its  con- 
stitutionality. That  officer  gave  a  written  opinion  in  favor  of 
the  bill's  constitutionality.  Mr.  Fillmore  was  opposed  to  slavery 
in  policy  and  principle.  Yet  he  was  a  whig  with  Henry  Clay. 
Mr.  Clay  was  the  great  compromiser.  Whenever  slavery,  or 
north  and  south  difficulties,  came  up,  Mr.  Clay  was  ready  with 
a  compromise  bill  as  a  remedy.  He  was  a  great  leader  in  the 
whig  party,  and  led  it  into  the  compromise  theory  of  legislation 


MILLARD   FILLMORE.  349 

and  morality.  The  great  majority  of  the  whig  party  of  the 
north  was  anti-slavery,  as  was  Mr.  Fillmore  himself.  Yet  the 
compromise  spirit  that  possessed  it  did  not  give  it  difference 
enough  from  the  democratic  party  to  maintain  its  life.  Mr. 
Fillmore  signed  the  fugitive  slave  bill,  and  thus  destroyed  the 
possibility  of  his  re-election  and  closed  up  the  life  of  the  party. 
The  north  demanded  a  more  pronounced  opposition  to  the 
extension  of  slavery. 

The  fugitive  slave  law  created  intense  excitement  in  the 
north.  Slaves  could  scarcely  be  captured  anywhere  without  a 
mob.  It  was  a  law  which  many  people  felt  themselves  under 
no  moral  obligation  to  obey.  The  law  was  resisted  in  Boston, 
Syracuse,  and  Christiana,  Pennsylvania,  and  would  have  been 
almost  anywhere  had  the  occasion  occurred.  The  president 
announced  his  purpose  to  enforce  the  law,  and  issued  a  procla- 
mation calling  all  officers  to  faithfulness  of  duty  in  executing  it. 
All  measures  were  taken  that  well  could  be  to  carry  the  law  into 
practical  effect,  yet  it  was  so  unpopular,  and  made  the  president 
so  unpopular,  that  all  his  merits  as  an  executive  officer  were  for- 
gotten, and  the  many  popular  things  of  his  administration  were 
lost  sight  of.  The  truth  was,  that  all  other  questions  were 
eclipsed  by  the  great  one  of  slavery.  It  was  felt  that  humanity, 
justice  and  honor  were  outraged  by  the  law  that  made  every 
man  an  abettor  of  slavery  in  compelling  him  to  catch  the  run- 
away. The  people  of  the  south  felt  that  all  this  was  demanded 
by  their  constitutional  right  to  property  in  slaves.  But  it  was 
simply  morally  impossible  for  the  people  of  the  north  to  see 
that  they  were  under  any  constitutional  obligation  to  catch  such 
departing  property.  No  matter  how  many  popular  measures  a 
president  had  approved,  to  attempt  to  force  such  a  measure 
upon  them  was  to  make  himself  unpopular. 

President  Fillmore,  in  his  messages,  proposed  many  impor- 
tant matters  to  Congress  which  were  not  acted  upon,  because 
the  majority  of  Congress  were  democratic. 

On  the  fourth  of  July,  1851,  the  president  laid  the  corner- 
stone of  the  extension  of  the  capitol.  An  immense  concourse 
of  people  were  present,  who  were  addressed  by  Daniel  Webster. 


350  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

The  slavery  excitement  quickened  in  the  minds  of  some 
southern  fanatics  a  desire  to  possess  Cuba  as  a  slave  island,  and 
they  started  an  expedition  under  a  man  by  the  name  of  Loper, 
in  the  steamer  Pampero.  It  left  the  port  of  New  Orleans  on 
the  fourth  of  August,  by  the  connivance  of  the  collector  of  the 
port,  and  landed  in  Cuba.  The  president  had  issued  a  procla- 
mation of  warning  against  the  expedition  before  it  left,  putting 
the  Cubans  on  the  lookout  for  it.  It  came  to  grief. 

In  the  autumn  of  1852  an  expedition  under  the  command  of 
Commodore  Perry  was  sent  to  Japan,  which  resulted  in  forming 
a  treaty  with  that  island  country,  which  has  been  of  mutual 
benefit  to  both  countries.  The  changes  and  improvements 
which  have  been  made  in  that  country,  resulting  from  that 
treaty,  are  among  the  wonderful  and  beneficent  works  of  the 
century.  Nothing  more  signalized  Mr.  Fillmore's  administra- 
tion than  this.  It  is  one  of  the  most  marked  cases  of  the  good 
which  our  republic  is  doing  abroad.  Our  system  of  education, 
laws,  and  to  a  large  degree  our  civilization,  are  being  adopted 
by  the  Japanese. 

During  Mr.  Fillmore's  administration  treaties  were  formed 
also  with  the  South  American  States,  Peru,  Costa  Rica,  and 
Brazil.  A  steamer  was  sent  by  the  government  to  explore  the 
Plata  and  its  tributaries.  An  expedition  was  sent  by  the  presi- 
dent to  explore  the  Amazon  and  its  tributaries,  to  get  instructive 
reports  in  the  interests  of  science  and  general  knowledge. 

Mr.  Fillmore  conducted  the  intercourse  of  our  government 
with  foreign  nations  with  ability  and  success.  His  messages 
were  wise,  strong  and  replete  with  the  practical  counsels  of  a 
statesman.  His  cabinet  were  in  perfect  harmony  with  himself 
and  each  other,  and,  upon  his  retiring  from  office,  they  did  the 
unusual  thing  of  addressing  to  him  a  congratulatory  letter, 
expressing  their  "  united  appreciation  of  his  abilities,  his  integ- 
rity, and  his  devotion  to  the  public  service." 

Mr.  Fillmore  retired  from  office  March  4,  1853,  with  the 
country  at  peace  and  in  a  state  of  great  prosperity. 

His  first  secretary  of  state,  Daniel  Webster,  died  October  24, 
1852,  and  Edward  Everett  was  appointed  in  his  place ;  both. 


J1ILLARD   FILLMOKE.  351 

men  renowned  for  their  great  ability  and  learning.  Daniel 
Webster  will  ever  be  held  as  one  of  the  intellectual  giants  of 
the  republic.  But,  like  Mr.  Fillmore,  he  was  drawn  into  sym- 
pathy with  the  compromise  measures  on  the  subject  of  slavery, 
and  lost  favor  with  the  northern  public.  This  was  a  whirlpool 
that  took  in  many  great  and  ambitious  men  in  those  days.  It 
was  a  time  that  tried  the  metal  of  the  moral  character  of  our 
statesmen. 

THE  EVENING   EEPOSE. 

Mr.  Fillmore  was  a  candidate  for  nomination  to  the  next 
presidency  in  the  whig  convention  of  1852  ;  but  though  as 
president  he  had  given  great  satisfaction  to  the  party  and 
country,  his  signing  the  fugitive  slave  bill  had  put  him  in  such 
ill  odor  in  the  north  that  he  could  command  but  twenty  votes 
in  the  free  states. 

In  the  spring  of  1855  Mr.  Fillmore  traveled  through  New 
England,  then  went  to  Europe,  and  while  in  Rome,  1856,  he 
received  intelligence  of  his  nomination  as  a  candidate  for  the 
presidency  by  the  American  party.  He  accepted  the  nomination, 
but  before  the  election  it  became  evident  that  the  real  struggle 
was  between  the  democratic  and  the  new  republican  party. 
The  intense  ambition  in  the  south  to  extend  slavery  had  pro- 
duced a  strong  party  in  the  north  against  its  further  extension; 
and  the  struggle  was  now  between  extension  and  non-extension 
of  slavery. 

Mr.  Fillmore  lived  in  peace  in  the  evening  of  his  days  at  his 
palatial  home  in  Buffalo,  New  York,  enjoying  the  honors  and 
rewards  of  a  nobly  spent  and  successful  life.  He  died  March  8, 
1874,  aged  seventy-four  years  and  two  months. 

During  the  war  of  the  rebellion  he  remained  so  quiet  as  to 
throw  suspicion  upon  his  loyalty  in  some  minds;  but  his  life  of 
faithful  public  service;  his  long-avowed  espousal  of  high  prin- 
ciples of  national  rectitude  and  honor;  his  personal  character, 
•so  above  all  suspicion,  stand  as  the  perpetual  testimonials  of  his 
patriotism.  He  was  a  true  representative  of  American  char- 
acter, and  honored  his  country  in  both  his  private  and  public  life. 


352 


CUE   PRESIDENTS. 


TOE  ilRAVE   OF   JllLLARD  fflLLMORE. 

Some  three  miles  north  of  the  city  of  Buffalo,  and  a  little 
east  of  the  Niagara  river,  is  Forest  Lawn  cemetery,  one  of  those 
beautiful  cities  of  the  dead  which  the  affection  and  taste  of  the 
people  of  our  time  make  in  memory  of  the  departed.  The 
living  city  is  already  coming  near  to  it,  and  the  sounds  and 
sights  of  the  generation  of  to-day  already  mingle  with  the 
silence  and  sacredness  of  this  home  of  mortal  dust. 

The  Fillmore  lot  is  thirty  by  forty  feet,  enclosed  with  an 
iron  railing  set  in  a  stone  curb.  It  contains  five  graves.  The 
monument  is  of  highly-polished  Scotch  granite,  twenty-two  feet 
high.  The  word  "  FILLMORE  "  is  on  the  northern  side  of  the  base, 
in  raised  letters. 

At  the  eastern  side  of  the  lot  is  Mr.  Fillrnore's  grave.  Near 
its  head  is  the  monument,  on  the  northern  side  of  which  is 
this  inscription  : 


BORN 

JANUARY  7,  1800. 

DIED 

MARCH  8,  1874. 


In  the  lower  and  western  side  of  the  lot  are  four  graves,  that 
of  his  first  wife,  Mary  Abigail  Fillmore  ;  that  of  her  mother, 
Mrs.  Abigail  Powers  Strong ;  that  of  their  daughter,  Mary 
Abigail  Fillmore;  and  that  of  his  last  wife. 

Near  by  are  the  graves  of  Mr.  Fillmore's  law  partners,  Hall 
and  Havens,  and  a  splendid  centennial  monument,  erected  by 
Mr.  E.  G.  Spaulding  to  the  memory  of  his  ancestors  who  fought 
a,t  Bunker  Hill,  making  it  possible  for  us  to  have  a  country,  and 
presidents  to  rule  over  it. 


CHAPTER  XV. 


FRANKLIN  PIERCE. 

FOURTEENTH  PRESIDENT  OP  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

ENERAL  BENJAMIN  PIERCE  was  a  soldier  in  the 
revolutionary  war,  was  afterward  a  radical  Jeffersonian 
democrat,  who  hated  England  and  loved  France  ;  was 
an  independent,  large-hearted  farmer ;  was  for  many  years 
a  representative  of  his  town  in  the  New  Hampshire  legis- 
lature ;  was  a  general  in  the  state  militia  ;  was  for  a  time 
a  member  of  the  governor's  council,  and  two  years  governor  of 
the  state.  He  was  an  ardent  politician,  and  with  political 
weapons  fiercely  fought  the  federalists. 

BIETH   AND    EARLY    LIFE. 

Franklin  Pierce  was  the  son  of  Governor  Benjamin  Pierce — 
the  sixth  of  eight  children. 

Franklin  was  a  bright,  handsome,  active  boy,  who  took  his 
father's  politics  by  inheritance  and  repeated  the  ancestral  argu- 
ments till  they  became  his  own.  He  was  a  generous  boy,  who 
won  favor  at  home,. at  school,  and  wherever  he  was  known.  His 
father  had  suffered  much  for  Avant  of  an  education,  and  as 
Franklin  inclined  to  it,  he  resolved  that  he  should  be  educated. 
The  district  school  gave  him  a  good  start ;  the  farm  gave  him 
practical  industry  ;  the  academies  at  Hancock  and  Francestown 
fitted  him  for  college ;  Bowdoin  college  gave  him  a  classical 
course  of  study  ;  Judge  Levi  Woodbury  and  the  law  school  at 
23  353 


354  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

Northampton,  Massachusetts,  trained  him  in  law ;  so  that  at  a 
little  past  twenty-three,  Franklin  Pierce  the  boy,  had  become 
Mr.  Franklin  Pierce,  the  man  and  the  lawyer. 

Among  his  classmates  in  college,  were  Professor  Calvin  E. 
Stowe,  a  theological  teacher  and  writer  of  note,  and  the  husband 
of  Harriet  Beecher  Stowe ;  Nathaniel  Hawthorne,  a  very  dis- 
tinguished writer  of  romance,  and  who  has  written  a  biography 
of  Mr.  Pierce  up  to  his  nomination  for  the  presidency;  and 
John  P.  Hale,  a  statesman,  orator  and  foreign  minister,  much 
distinguished  in  his  day.  Other  noted  men  were  in  college  with 
him,  among  whom 'was  John  S.  C.  Abbott,  much  known  as  an 
author,  who  wrote  a  sketch  of  Mr.  Pierce's  life  in  "The  Lives 
of  the  Presidents/' 

MR.    PIERCE  THE  LAWYER  AND  THE   POLITICIAN. 

Mr.  Pierce  entered  upon  the  practice  of  law  in  Hillsboro,  his 
native  town  ;  succeeded  poorly  in  the  beginning,  but  persevered 
and  attained  reasonable  success.  His  bent  of  mind  was  to  pol- 
itics. His  father  was  a  radical  partisan  politician.  The  son 
was  a  chip  of  the  old  block.  His  politics  was  partisanship. 
Judge  Woodbury,  his  law  preceptor,  was  a  strong  politician  of 
the  same  school.  New  Hampshire  politics  was  the  kind  he  was 
trained  in.  He  was  cradled,  bred,  educated  in  radical,  partisan 
democracy.  The  air  was  too  full  of  it,  it  was  too  one-sided,  it 
had  too  little  opposition,  to  rise  to  philosophical,  or  statesman- 
like democracy.  He  was  honest  and  hearty  in  it.  His  cast  of 
mind,  under  his  training,  made  that  kind  of  politics  his  meat 
and  drink.  His  cheerful,  confident,  frank  and  winning  man- 
ners, made  him  a  favorite  with  intensely  clanish  politicians  of 
his  school.  Between  thoughtful,  broad,  humane  democracy, 
which  is  founded  in  the  rights  of  human  nature,  expressed  in 
the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  which  was  meant  by  the 
originators  of  the  party  that  bears  that  name,  and  that  to  which 
Mr.  Pierce  lent  his  life  service,  there  is  but  little  affiliation. 

The  town  of  Hillsboro  elected  Mr.  Pierce,  when  twenty-five, 
its  representative  in  the  legislature,  and  re-elected  him  for  four 
successive  years ;  the  legislature  made  him  its  speaker  the  last  two 


FRANKLIN   PIERCE.  355 

years ;  his  congressional  district  elected  him  to  Congress  when 
twenty-nine,  the  youngest  member  in  the  House,  and  re-elected 
him  in  two  years ;  his  legislature  elected  him  to  the  Senate  of 
the  United  States  in  1837,  when  he  was  thirty-three  years  old  — 
the  youngest  member  of  that  body.  He  thus  went  rapidly  up 
the  stairway  of  political  promotion,  till,  while  yet  a  youth,  he  sat 
in  the  most  dignified  and  honorable  body  of  men  in  the  nation, 
with  such  men  as  John  C.  Calhoun,  Thomas  II.  Benton  and 
James  Buchanan  around  him. 

While  a  member  of  the  House,  Mr.  Pierce  opposed  all  forms 
of  internal  improvement  by  the  general  government,  the  bill 
authorizing  a  military  academy  at  West  Point,  and  all  anti- 
slavery  measures.  Young  as  he  was,  he  was  fast  in  the  partisan 
ruts.  His  political  career  had  thus  far  been  in  President  Jack- 
son's time,  to  whose  policy  and  fortunes  he  adhered  with  filial 
devotion. 

As  a  senator,  he  was  in  Mr.  Van  Buren's  administration, 
which  was  but  a  prolongation  of  Jackson's,  with  the  bitter 
results  keenly  felt  in  the  prostration  of  all  business  and  fearful 
hopelessness  and  want  of  courage  among  the  people.  Under  Mr. 
Van  Buren,  his  old  law  preceptor,  Judge  Levi  Woodbury,  was 
secretary  of  the  treasury. 

In  1842,  the  year  after  General  Harrison's  election,  Mr.  Pierce 
resigned  and  returned  to  the  practice  of  law  in  Concord,  New 
Hampshire,  whither  he  had  moved  in  1838. 

In  1846,  President  Polk  offered  him  the  attorney-generalship 
of  the  United  States,  but  he  declined  it,  though  in  full  sympa- 
thy .  with  him,  his  administration,  and  the  measures  he  was 
expected  to  carry  out.  About  the  same  time  the  democratic 
party  of  New  Hampshire  proposed  to  put  him  in  nomination  for 
governor,  which  was  equivalent  to  an  election;  but  he  declined 
this  also. 

Mr.  Pierce  was  in  hearty  sympathy  with  the  annexation  of 
Texas  and  the  course  pursued  to  bring  it  about,  and  when  the  war 
opened  with  Mexico,  which  it  caused,  volunteered  to  fight  for  the 
state  we  had  severed  from  our  neighbor  to  become  slave  terri- 
tory, with  as  much  zeal  as  though  a  great  benefit  was  to  be 


356  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

bestowed  upon  an  oppressed  race.  He  enlisted  in  the  ninth 
regiment  and  was  made  its  colonel.  Soon  after  he  was  promoted 
to  the  rank  of  brigadier-general.  He  embarked  with  a  portion 
of  his  troops  at  Newport,  Rhode  Island,  May  27,  1847. 

In  a  month  he  landed  on  a  sand-beach  at  Virgara,  Mexico; 
collected,  by  great  efforts,  wild  mules  and  mustangs  enough 
to  transport  his  luggage;  broke  his  prairie  animals  to  the  har- 
ness; in  the  tropical  heat  of  the  middle  of  July  started  on  the 
Jalappa  road  over  sand-hills,  and  stream-beds  and  prairie 
stretches  for  Puebla,  to  reinforce  General  Scott.  By  labor, 
fatigue,  skill  and  devotion  worthy  of  the  best  of  causes,  he 
made  bridges,  fought  off  guerillas,  captured  villages,  took  pos-' 
session  of  haciendas  or  Mexican  estates;  cared  well  for  his  four 
hundred  sick  men,  and  transported  his  twenty-four  hundred 
men  to  a  union  with  the  main  army  at  Puebla,  without  the  loss 
of  a  wagon. 

At  Contreras,  by  order  of  General  Scott,  General  Pierce, 
with  four  thousand  men,  fought  twice  that  number  and  gained 
a  complete  victory.  Though  he  was  severely  hurt  by  a  fall  of 
his  horse,  he  kept  his  post  o"f  duty  against  the  advice  of  officers 
and  surgeons.  He  followed  the  enemy  and  fought  him  again 
desperately  at  Cherubusco,  though  faint  and  haggard  with  pain 
and  loss  of  sleep;  and  still  again  at  Molino  del  Key.  But  so  badly 
injured  was  the  intrepid  and  ardent  young  soldier,  that  he  had 
to  be  carried  to  the  hospital,  and  the  city  of  Mexico  was  taken 
without  his  further  help.  He  remained  in  the  captured  city  till 
December,  and  then  returned  to  his  home  in  New  Hampshire. 

At  Concord  General  Pierce  took  up  again  the  practice  of  his 
profession,  and  also  the  advocacy  of  his  party  politics,  defend- 
ing stoutly  the  pro-slavery  wing  of  his  party,  the  compromise 
measures  of  Congress,  the  fugitive  slave  law  and  its  enforce- 
ment, as  though  there  were  no  defiance  of  democratic  principles 
in  all  this,  and.  no  violation  of  enlightened  conscience. 

In  1850  General  Pierce  presided  over  the  constitutional  con- 
vention in  his  state. 

In  1852  the  democratic  national  convention,  at  Baltimore, 
ifter  thirty-five  ballotiugs  for  a  candidate  for  the  presidency, 


FRANKLIN   PIERCE.  357 

brought  in  the  name  of  Franklin  Pierce,  and  on  the  forty-ninth 
ballot  he  was  nominated,  receiving  two  hundred  and  eighty-two 
votes  to  eleven  for  all  others.  His  name  was  proposed  by  the 
Virginia  delegation.  The  election  was  an  active  one.  The 
compromise  measures  and  the  fugitive  slave  law  had  secured 
possession  of  the  country.  Quiet  had  settled  down  upon  the 
opposition,  and  with  it  had  come  apathy  to  many.  General 
Scott  was  the  whig  candidate.  He  received  the  votes  of  Ver- 
mont, Massachusetts,  Tennessee  and  Kentucky;  all  the  rest  went 
for  General  Pierce. 

PRESIDENT   PIERCE. 

March  4,  1853,  Mr.  Pierce  was  inaugurated  fourteenth  pres- 
ident of  the  United  States.  In  his  inaugural  address  he  main- 
tained the  then  dominant  doctrines  of  his  party  on  the  subject 
of  slavery,  and  reprobated  the  discussion  of  that  subject. 

Very  SOOTI  came  a  further  dispute  Avith  Mexico  about  the 
boundary,  which  was  settled  by  the  acquisition  of  Arizona.  It 
was  Mexico's  misfortune  to  lose  by  all  her  disputes.  Under  this 
administration  routes  to  the  Pacific  were  explored;  a  settlement 
with  Great  Britain  of  the  fishery  question  was  made;  the  Mis- 
souri compromise  was  repealed ;  the  territories  of  Kansas  and 
Nebraska  were  organized,  by  a  -special  act,  under  which  came 
the  desperate  efforts  of  the  south  to  organize  a  pro-slavery  gov- 
ernment in  Kansas.  The  recital  of  the  events  of  what  was 
called  the  "Kansas  War"  would  be  too  long  for  this  place.  It 
intensified  the  differences  of  the  time  between  north  and  south, 
and  was  participated  in  chiefly  by  those  of  extreme  views  and 
excitable  dispositions.  Few  cool  heads  went  to  Kansas  at  that 
time  from  either  section  of  the  Union.  If  any  went  there  cool 
they  soon  became  heated.  Missouri  desperadoes  played  a  strong 
part  in  that  Kansas  trouble  that  so  shook  the  country  in  the 
administration  of  President  Pierce,  who  Avas  so  Avarm  in  his 
espousal  of  extreme  southern  vieAvs  that  he  got  the  name  of 
"the  northern  man  with  southern  principles." 

Mr.  Pierce  vetoed  bills  for  the  completion  and  improvement 
of  certain  public  works;  for  appropriating  public  lands  for  the 


358  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

indigent  insane ;  for  the  payment  of  the  French  spoliation 
claims,  and  for  increasing  the  subsidy  of  the  Collins  line  of 
steamships.  On  the  twenty -fourth  of  January,  1856,  he  sent  a 
message  to  Congress,  in  which  he  regarded  the  formation  of  a 
free-state  government  in  Kansas  as  an  act  of  rebellion,  and 
justified  the  principles  of  the  Kansas-Nebraska  act. 

Many  southern  men  took  a  more  just  view  of  the  subject 
than  he  did.  In  his  over-zeal  for  the  extreme  southern  prin- 
ciples and  measures  he  did  much  to  hasten  the  formation  of  the 
republican  party,  the  leading  doctrine  of  which  was  the  non- 
extension  of  slavery. 

The  Congressional  complications  were  such  over  the  Kansas 
embroilment  that  the  Congress  of  1856  adjourned  without  pro- 
viding for  the  payment  of  the  army.  President  Pierce  immedi- 
ately called  an  extra  session,  to  meet  on  the  twenty-first  of 
August.  His  message  to  that  body  was  chiefly  devoted  to  the 
Kansas  trouble,  concerning  which  he  took  strong  ground  against 
the  free-state  party.  He  closed  his  administration  as  he  began, 
a  radical  northern  man  with  southern  principles. 

Mr.  Pierce  was  a  candidate  for  re-election,  but  his  extreme 
officiousness  in  behalf  of  slavery  had  disgusted  many  of  his 
northern  friends,  and  led  his  southern  friends  to  see  that  he 
could  not  longer  serve  them  with  success.  So  James  Buchanan 
was  put  in  nomination  as  his  successor. 

After  President  Pierce  left  Washington,  he  took  an  extended 
tour  through  Europe,  from  which  he  returned  in  1860.  He 
continued  to  reside  at  Concord,  where,  during  the  Rebellion,  he 
made  a  speech,  which  was  called  the  "  Mausoleum-of-heart's 
Speech  "  on  account  of  its  sympathy  with  the  confederates. 

In  1834,  Mr.  Pierce  was  married  to  Miss  Jane  Means  Apple- 
ton,  daughter  of  Reverend  Doctor  Appleton,  president  of  Bow- 
doin  college.  Three  sons  were  born  to  them,  but  all  died  before 
their  mother.  She  died  in  1863,  and  Mr.  Pierce  in  1869.  He 
was  for  many  years  a  communicant  of  the  Episcopal  church. 


FRANKLIN   PIERCE.  359 


f  HE  (|RAVE  OF  f  RANKLIN  f  IERCE. 

After  three  months  sickness  Franklin  Pierce  closed  his  eyes 
on  terrestrial  scenes  and  passed  within  the  vail  to  the  realm  hid 
from  mortal  sight.  His  body  was  laid  in  state  for  two  days,  in 
Doric  hall,  in  the  capitol.  It  was  borne  in  funereal  procession 
to  Minot  cemetery,  where  was  sung  over  it  his  favorite  hymn: 

"While  thee,  I  seek,  protecting  Power, 

Be  my  vain  wishes  stilled, 
And  may  this  consecrated  hour 

With  better  hopes  be  filled. 

The  Minot  enclosure  adjoins  the  old  town  cemetery  and  is 
fenced  with  a  neat  iron  paling  six  feet  high;  is  traversed  with 
concrete  paths  and  smoothly  sodded.  The  Pierce  lot  is  in  the 
northwestern  corner.  The  monument  over  the  grave  of  the 
president  is  of  Italian  marble,  elaborately  wrought.  The  base  is 
of  granite,  three  feet  and  three  inches  square.  The  plinth,  die 
and  cap  are  in  artistic  proportions.  The  word  PIERCE,  is  on  the 
plinth  in  large  raised  letters;  and  on  the  panel  of  the  die  is  the 
inscription: 

01:111  ill  IIIIIMIII  I  ll|:|.|;llllill:lil;l!l:l:lillili|i|illlMillllllB 

-  — 


Born  November  23,   1804. 

I 
Died  October  8,  1869. 

| 

Bfll:lll;l:irillllll|:|llllll  IJIIIIIIIIIIIM'I  Mills 

Why  Francis,  instead  of  Franklin,  does  not  appear  in  any 
public  record,  but  it  is  presumed  that  Francis  was  the  name 
originally  given  him.  Everything  is  neat  and  in  order  about 
the  grave  and  lot. 

On  the  south  side  of  the  president's  grave  is  that  of  Mrs. 
Pierce.  It  is  marked  with  a  neat  marble  spire,  with  a  heaven- 
pointing  hand,  indicating  the  faith  in  the  home  above,  in  which 


360  OUR    PRESIDENTS. 

she  lived  and  died.     Over  the  hand,  in  an  arc  of  a  circle,  are 
inscribed  the  words: 

"OTHER  REFUGE  i  HAVE  NONE." 

On  the  north  side  of  the  president's  grave  are  the  graves  of 
their  two  sons,  Robert  and  Franklin.  The  whole  family  are 
gone  together;  only  their  history  left.  So  pass  away  the  families 
of  earth.  And  so  are  being  monumented  the  graves  of  our 
republican  presidents  in  the  cemeteries  of  the  people  all  over  the 
land.  State  after  state  holds  the  grave  of  a  president.  Some  of 
the  states  already  have  several.  The  people,  in  this  people's 
country,  make  the  rulers  from  among  themselves,  and  then 
reverently  and  tenderly  lay  their  bodies  away  among  the  bodies 
of  those  over  whom  they  ruled;  ruler  and  ruled,  alike  in  the 
feebleness  of  their  beginning,  and  in  the  impotency  of  death. 
There  is  a  dignity  and  consistency  in  this  form  of  government 
which  reflects  honor  upon  our  nature  and  our  kind.  When  the 
people  honor  the  rulers  of  their  choice,  chosen  from  among 
themselves,  on  account  of  their  ability  and  worth,  and  then 
bury  them  in  their  own  family  burying  grounds,  monument 
their  graves,  and  keep  them  green  with  hallowed  memories,  it 
indicates  the  true  meaning  and  use  of  government.  This  is  a? 
it  should  be.  "Honor  to  whom  honor  is  due."  In  honoring 
their  noble  dead,  the  people  honor  themselves. 

By  the  "side  of  President  Pierce  sleep  many  of  the  most 
honored  of  New  Hampshire's  citizens,  those  with  whom  he  lived 
and  labored,  who  bore  with  him  the  cares  of  government  and  the 
burdens  of  our  popular  institutions.  Death  is  republican. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 


JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

FIFTEENTH   PRESIDENT   OF   THE   UNITED   STATES. 

'HE  value  of  a  government  or  an  order  of  society  is 
tested  by  its  results  in  human  ability  and  character. 
The  fact  that  American  society  has  been  very  pro- 
ductive of  great  men,  and  that  even  from  its  primitive 
plantings  its  products  have  been  large  and  generous,  indi- 
cates that  it  is  founded  upon  principles  promotive  of 
human  well  being.  A  tree  is  known  by  its  fruits;  men  by  their 
deeds,  and  society  by  the  people  it  produces. 

ANCESTKY  AND   EDUCATION. 

• 

We  have,  in  James  Buchanan,  another  instance  of  a  distin- 
guished man  rising  from  the  humblest  origin.  His  father  was 
a  poor  Irish  immigrant,  who  came  to  the  New  World  to  better 
his  fortune,  in  1783,  just  as  the  revolutionary  war  was  closing. 
He  settled  in  Pennsylvania,  and  five  years  after  did  the  right 
thing  to  mend  his  fortune  by  marrying  Elizabeth  Spear,  the 
daughter  of  a  good  farmer. 

The  next  good  thing  he  did  was  to  go  a  little  way  into  the 
•''forest  primeval,"  stake  out  a  tract  of  land  for  a  farm,  build  a 
cabin,  and  establish  a  home.  Now  he  was  an  American  citizen, 
a  freeholder,  a  husband,  a  farmer.  The  independent,  thinking, 
self-directing  American  man  was  enthroned  in  this  new  home  in 
the  woods.  Soon  came  the  little  boy,  whom  they  named  James, 

361 


362  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

to  cheer  the  solitude  »and  add  for  a  time  to  the  work  and 
responsibility.  In  this  sylvan  retreat  this  child  of  the  woods 
had  the  freedom  of  his  obscure  home  in  which  to  get  a  good 
start  in  muscle  and  mind.  The  place  was  called  Stony  Batter, 
Franklin  county,  Pennsylvania,  where,  April  22,  1791,  James 
Buchanan  was  born. 

"When  he  was  eight  years  old  the  family  moved  to  Mercers- 
burg,  and  the  boy  went  into  school  to  go  rapidly  through  the 
rudiments  of  an  education,  and  be  fitted  for  college  at  fourteen. 
He  entered  Dickinson  college,  and  graduated  at  eighteen.  This 
quick  transit  through  a  course  of  collegiate  study  told  the  char- 
acter and  force  of  his  mind.  He  was  now  tall,  athletic,  vigorous, 
graceful,  and  exuberant  of  spirit. 

BUCHANAN   THE   LAWYER. 

He  began  at  once  the  study  of  law  in  the  city  of  Lancaster. 
When  twenty-one  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  He  entered 
immediately  upon  his  profession,  and  soon  attained  a  lucrative 
practice. 

BUCHANAN   THE   LEGISLATOR. 

In  1820  Mr.  Buchanan  was  elected  to  the  Lower  House  of 
Congress,  where  he  continued  ten  years. 

He  was  a  federalist  in  his  early  life — believed  in  the  consti- 
tution, in  a  secure  and  strong  government,  capable  of  self- 
perpetuation  ;  he  believed  in  the  nation  having  power  over 
all  its  parts. 

But  as  the  Jeffersonian  party,  in  opposition  to  the  federalists, 
went  over  more  and  more  to  the  state-rights  doctrines,  and 
became  more  and  more  assured  in  its  majorities  and  power  in 
the  country,  Mr.  Buchanan  went  with  it,  so  that  he  said,  a  little 
after  middle  life:  "The  older  I  grow  the  more  I  am  inclined  to 
be  what  is  called  a  state-rights  man/' 

When  the  second  war  with  England,  in  1811,  broke  out,  Mr. 
Buchanan  vigorously  supported  the  government,  and  enlisted 
himself  as  a  private  soldier  to  repel  the  British,  who  had  sacked 
Washington  and  were  threatening  Baltimore. 


JAMES   BUCHANAN.  363 

In  Congress,  and  as  a  politician,  Mr.  Buchanan  was  opposed 
to  internal  improvements  by  the  national  government ;  opposed 
to  a  protective  tariff ;  opposed  to  a  national  bank ;  was  afraid 
the  national  government  had  in  it  some  root  of  tyrannical  power 
which  would  grow  to  be  a  dangerous  oppression  upon  the  states, 
if  not  held  vigilantly  in  check.  He  became  a  zealous  Jackson 
man  in  his  time,  and  supported  him  in  his  erratic  and  dictatorial 
administration.  In  the  succeeding  administration  he  supported 
Van  Buren  with  equal  zeal ;  so  that  when  the  slavery  question 
came  to  the  front  he  was  so  committed  to  all  the  doctrines  and 
measures  of  the  democratic  party  of  that  time,  that  the  defense 
of  slavery  seemed  to  him  to  be  the  support  of  the  country. 
Jackson  sent  him  to  Russia  to  arrange  a  treaty  of  commerce 
with  that  country.  Under  Van  Buren,  he  supported  the  pres- 
ident's independent  treasury  scheme.  Under  Polk,  none  was 
more  active  and  pressing  in  support  of  the  annexation  of  Texas, 
as  he  said,  "to  afford  that  security  to  the  southern  and  south- 
western slave  states  which  they  have  a  right  to  demand/' 

In  1833,  he  was  elected  to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States, 
and  in  his  position  as  an  influential  and  untiring  advocate  of  the 
doctrines  of  his  part}'  and  its  presidents,  he  was  able  to  wield  a 
great  influence  in  shaping  its  course  in  its  sectional  measures 
which  were  all  the  while  tending  to  make  slavery  paramount  to 
country  or  humanity,  in  the  minds  of  its  advocates.  And  yet 
all  the  time  he  seemed  to  himself  to  be  a  national  politician, 
broad  and  fair-minded  to  all  sections.  He  said:  "If  I  know 
myself,  I  am  a  politician  neither  of  the  east  nor  of  the  west,  of 
the  north  nor  of  the  south.  I  therefore  shall  forever  avoid  any 
expressions,  the  direct  tendency  of  which  shall  be  to  create  sec- 
tional jealousies,  and  at  length  disunion  —  that  worst  and  last  of 
all  political  calamities."  In  his  argument  for  the  annexation  of 
Texas,  he  seemed  to  make  himself  believe  that  the  benefit  .would 
accrue  more  to  the  north  than  the  south,  for  he  said  :  "But  to 
the  middle  and  western,  and  more  especially  to  the  New  Eng- 
land, states  it  would  be  a  source  of  immixed  prosperity.  It 
would  extend  their  commerce,  promote  their  manufactures,  and 


364  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

increase  their  wealth."    So  do  great   men,   perhaps  meaning 
well,  misunderstand  themselves. 

He  stoutly  approved  of  Jackson's  doctrine,  that  "to  the  vic- 
tors belong  the  spoils,"  and  his  practice  of  removing  from  office 
all  not  of  his  party. 

SECRETARY   OF   STATE. 

Upon  Mr.  Folk's  ascendency  to  the  presidential  office,  he 
appointed  Mr.  Buchanan  to  the  cabinet  office  of  secretary  of 
state. 

He  had  the  settlement  of  the  northwestern  boundary  ques- 
tion, with  England,  which  had  remained  open  until  now. 

In  all  the  sectional  questions  of  Mr.  Folk's  administration, 
Mr.  Buchanan  was  loyal  to  the  pro-slavery  views  which  he  had 
so  strongly  advocated.  He  sustained  the  Mexican  war  in  its 
beginning,  progress  and  close,  and  counted  it  a  national  glory. 

At  the  close  of  Mr.  Folk's  administration,  Mr.  Buchanan 
retired  to  private  life,  having  served  his  party  to  its  great  satis- 
faction, and  especially  the  southern  portion  of  it.  Yet  he  was 
too  deeply  interested  in  the  great  questions  of  the  time  to  keep 
quiet  concerning  them,  and  in  letters  and  public  addresses 
sought  to  allay  the  northern  agitation  of  slavery  by  advocating 
the  southern  view  of  it,  in  all  the  differing  phases  in  which  from 
time  to  tinift  it  came  up. 

MINISTER   TO    ENGLAND. 

Soon  after  Mr.  Pierce  became  president  he  appointed  Mr. 
Buchanan  minister  to  England.  The  principal  object  of  his 
mission  related  to  the  settlement  of  questions  left  open  in  rela- 
tion to  the  Central  American  States  and  Spain.  Cuba  was 
Spanish  territory  and  near  the  southern  states.  Spain  might 
resolve  to  free  the  slaves,  or  the  slaves  might  do  as  they  did  in 
St.  Domingo,  free  themselves.  In  either  case  it  would  be  dan- 
gerous to  slavery  in  our  country,  and  must  be  looked  after.  Mr. 
Buchanan  was  a  self -constituted  servant  of  the  institution,  and 
willingly  took  up  this  mission.  After  awhile  Mr.  Mason  and 


JAMES-  BUCHANAN-.    .  365 

Mr.  Soule  were  appointed  to  meet  him  at  Ostend,  where  the 
celebrated  "Ostend  Manifesto"  was  agreed  upon.  It  was  writ- 
ten by  Mr.  Buchanan,  and  set  forth  the  importance  of  Cuba  to 
the  United  States,  by  purchase,  if  it  could  be  so  secured,  or  by 
conquest,  if  slavery  in  it  should  be  interfered  with.  In  his  own 
country  or  abroad,  north  or  south,  in  Congress  or  out,  Mr. 
Buchanan  found  slavery  demanding  his  service,  and  he  always 
responded  with  alacrity. 

PRESIDENT   BUCHANAN. 

In  June,  1856,  Mr.  Buchanan  was  nominated  for  the  presi- 
dency by  the  democratic  convention,  and  the  next  autumn 
elected,  receiving  one  hundred  and  seventy-four  electoral  votes 
from  nineteen  states,  while  his  opposing  republican  candidate, 
John  C.  Fremont,  received  one  hundred  and  fourteen,  and 
Millard  Fillmore  eight.  The  anti-slavery  agitation  had  increased 
more  and  more  for  many  years.  All  that  had  been  said  and 
done  to  make  slavery  secure  and  to  extend  it,  had  only  served 
to  endanger  it.  The  federal  party  had  gone  down  in  its  care 
not  to  oppose  it ;  the  whig  party  had  died  in  its  efforts  to 
treat  it  respectfully ;  the  democratic  party  had  grown  mighty 
and  arrogant  in  defending  it.  Now  there  had  come  into  the 
field  a  new  party  which  did  not  believe  in  slavery,  many  of  the 
members  of  which  were  in  judgment  and  conscience  opposed  to 
it ;  and  yet  as  a  party  its  one  doctrine  was  non-extension  of 
slavery.  It  had  grown  steadily  for  a  number  of  years  and  had 
now  cast  one  hundred  and  fourteen  electoral  votes,  and  had 
gained  a  clear  majority  of  about  one  hundred  and  ten  thousand 
in  the  popular  vote  of  the  whole  country.  This  looked  ominous 
for  the  extension  of  slavery,  to  prepare  for  which  the  whole 
machinery  of  the  government  had  been  used  through  several 
administrations,  and  to  acccomplish  which  Mr.  Buchanan  had 
been  elected.  It  put  Mr.  Buchanan  in  a  difficult  place.  He 
had  taken  and  continued  to  take  the  southern  side  of  the  Kan- 
sas embroglio.  In  every  case  he  did  what  he  could  for  slavery, 
not  seeming  to  see  any  questions  of  morality  or  humanity  con- 
nected with  it,  or  feeling  any  pang  of  pity  for  the  suffering 


366  OUK   PRESIDENTS. 

slaves  or  the  unfortunate  whites  who  held  them  in  bondage  to 
their  own  harm. 

A  rebellion  in  Utah  broke  out,  which  Mr.  Buchanan  quelled 
by  sending  a  wise  commissioner  to  the  disaffected.  A  homestead 
bill  for  settlers  on  the  public  lands  was  passed,  which  he  vetoed. 
It  was  something  for  the  extension  of  freedom  and  the  help  of 
freemen. 

As  Mr.  Buchanan's  troubled  administration  drew  near  its 
close,  the  great  discussion  of  slavery  and  the  national  situation 
called  out  the  mighty  men  of  the  whole  country,  and  the  intel- 
lectual battle  of  the  giants  was  brought  on.  The  rostrum,  the 
lyceum,  the  press,  the  pulpit,  were  all  at  their  best.  Over  the 
whole  country  there  was  profound  study  and  deep  and  thorough 
dicussion.  The  best  was  said  for  both  sides.  The  most  notable 
discussion  was  that  between  Stephen  A.  Douglas  and  Abraham 
Lincoln — perhaps  the  greatest  political  oral  discussion  ever  held 
in  the  world.  The  country  read  it  with  breathless  interest. 
This,  together  with  Mr.  Lincoln's  great  speech  in  the  Cooper 
Institute,  New  York,  resulted  in  his  nomination  for  the  presi- 
dency by  the  republican  party,  in  1860,  and  his  election. 

The  pro-slavery  leaders  of  the  south  had  threatened  disunion 
if  Mr.  Lincoln  was  elected.  The  people  of  the  north  had  but 
little  confidence  in  or  fear  of  this  threat.  They  believed  the 
people  of  the  south  were  loyal,  and  prized  the  Union  more  than 
the  extension  of  slavery.  They  understood  the  threat  to  be  that 
of  the  political  leaders,  and  not  of  the  considerate  people.  Indeed, 
the  north  has  always  had  far  more  confidence  in  the  southern 
people  than  in  their  leaders,  because  political  leadership  has 
been  almost  the  only  way  to  notoriety  in  the  south. 

The  last  Congress  under  Mr.  Buchanan  met  early  in  Decem- 
oer.  His  message  was  full  of  weakness.  He  said  the  constitu- 
tion had  given  him  no  power  to  coerce  a  withdrawing  or  a 
withdrawn  state;  that  he  could  not  call  out  the  army  except 
upon  the  requisition  of  judicial  autnority,  and  that  authority 
did  not  exist  in  a  rebellious  state.  The  way  was  full  of  lions  to 
the  president  who  was  in  friendly  sympathy  with  the  seceding 
leaders.  South  Carolina  formally  seceded  on  the  twentieth  of 


JAMES   BUCHANAH.  367 

Decemoer,  and  set  up  as  a  separate  commonwealth,  and  sent 
commissioners  to  treat  with  the  president.  He  met  them,  "but 
only  as  private  gentlemen  of  the  highest  character." 

The  simple  fact  was,  as  the  French  writer,  De  Tocqueville,  had 
foretold  some  years  before,  the  doctrine  of  "State  Sovereignty" 
had  sapped  the  life  blood  of  the  loyalty  of  those  who  had  espoused 
it  as  a  political  truth,  and  he,  like  those  who  went  out,  had  no 
patriotic  soundness  in  him.  Since  the  days  of  Calhoun  the 
immoral  and  dangerous  heresy  had  been  growing,  and  now  had 
brought  forth  its  first  bitter  fruit. 

Not  Mr  Buchanan  alone,  but  all  who  had  joined  with  him 
in  the  great  heresy,  were  in  the  fault  and  jointly  responsible  for 
the  great  disaster.  His  patriotism  was  dead,  and  the  moral 
stamina  and  the  manly  courage  of  the  man  had  died  with  it. 
He  was  a  body  of  political  rottenness  in  the  chair  of  state — a 
pitiable  shame  to  American  manhood. 

As  soon  as  Mr.  Lincoln  was  inaugurated  Mr.  Buchanan 
retired  to  his  home  in  Lancaster,  Pennsylvania,  where  he  lived 
in  quiet  obscurity  till  June  1,  1868,  when  he  passed  away,  aged 
seventy-seven  years. 

This  wreck  of  patriotism  and  loyal  manhood  seems  all  the 
worse  as  Mr.  Buchanan  was  really  a  great  man,  and  had  risen 
rapidly  from  obscurity  to  the  highest  place  in  the  gift  of  the 
nation.  He  had  many  virtues,  and  some  marked  excellencies; 
had  a  fine  physique,  a  noble  face  and  a  manly  bearing,  and 
ought  to  have  been  among  the  grand  American  men. 


f  HE  URAVE  OF  UAMES  BUCHANAN. 

At  Lancaster,  Pennsylvania,  Mr.  Buchanan  lived  from  the 
time  he  began  to  study  law  till  the  close  of  his  life.  His  resi- 
dence was  about  a  mile  west  of  the  town  on  the  Marietta  road. 
He  called  it  Wheatland.  It  is  an  old-fashioned  brick  mansion  in 
the  midst  of  a  pleasant  lawn  well  supplied  with  shade  and  orna- 
mental trees.  Not  far  from  the  entrance  is  a  fine  spring,  over- 


3G8  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

shadowed  with  willows,  which  was  always  an  object  of  interest 
to  its  owner,  and  where  he  often  sat  on  summer  days  and  read, 
and  greeted  his  neighbors  as  they  passed.  It  is  now  owned  by 
his  niece,  Mrs.  Henry  E.  Johnston  (Miss  Harriet  Lane),  of  Balti- 
more, who  was  reared  from  childhood  by  him,  and  who  now 
makes  this  her  summer  residence. 

Mr.  Buchanan's  grave  ;s  in  Woodward  Hill  cemetery,  in  the 
southeastern  part  of  the  cit},  on  a  somewhat  bluffy  and  fine  out- 
look over  the  valley  of  the  Conestoga.  The  cemetery  contains 
twenty-seven  acres,  tastefully  arranged  and  ornamented  for  the 
resting-place  of  human  mortality.  A  chapel  crowns  the  highest 
point,  not  far  from  the  center.  Near  the  chapel  and  a  little 
down  toward  the  river  is  the  grave  of  the  fifteenth  president. 
The  plat  of  ground  enclosed  with  an  iron  fence  is  thirty  feet  by 
twelve.  The  fence  is  interlaced  with  thrifty  and  well-cared-for 
rose  bushes;  while  the  well-kept  lawn  is  dotted  over  with 
clumps  of  rare  roses.  The  one  grave  is  in  the  center  of  the  lot. 
The  remains  rest  in  a  vault  of  strong  masonry,  covered  with 
heavy  slabs  of  rock.  A  base  of  Xew  Hampshire  granite,  some 
seven  feet  by  three  and  a  half,  rests  on  these  slabs,  and  on  the 
base  a  single  block  of  Italian  marble  six  feet  four  inches  long, 
two  feet  ten  inches  wide,  and  three  feet  six  inches  high,  wrought 
with  a  heavy  moulded  cap  and  base.  A  branch  of  oak  with 
leaves  and  acorns  is  cut  in  the  cap.  On  the  end  of  the  block 
next  to  the  chapel  is  this  inscription : 


HERE  REST  THE  REMAINS  OF 
ft 

I 

*  FIFTEENTH  PRESIDENT  OP  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

£      Born  in  Franklin  County,  Pa.,  April  22,  1791. 
Died  at  Wheatland,  June  1,  1868. 


'/7 — - 


»     CHAPTER   XVH. 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN. 

SIXTEENTH    PRESIDENT    OP    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

f 

ITII  an  inexpressible  sense  of  tenderness  and  respect 
for  the  unique  and  providential  character  of  Abraham 
Lincoln,  we  come  to  the  task  of  setting  in  order  a 
5>  sketch  of  his  life.  He  stands  in  our  history  by  the  side 
of  Washington  in  excellence  of  character  and  the  great- 
ness of  his  life  work  for  human  well-being.  Yet  he  is  so 
near  us  who  now  live,  and  had  such  a  tenderness  for 
humanity,  such  a  sensibility  to  human  suffering  and  sorrow, 
and  such  acommanding  respect  for  personal  rights,  that  he 
seems  to  us  a  great  brother  of  mankind,  for  whom  we  have  a 
personal  affection.  He  is  not  to  us  like  other  great  men,  afar 
off  and  grand,  but  near  and  dear  in  his  greatness. 

Washington  wrought  out  his  greatness  by  a  long  life  of 
conspicuous  toil  and  self-sacrifice  in  high  places  of  trust  and 
honor.  Lincoln  came  suddenly  before  the  world,  a  genius  in 
philanthropic  wisdom  and  power;  and  yet  in  sterling  worth  and 
commanding  ability  they  were  much  alike.  One  was  a  child  of 
fortune,  the  other  of  poverty;  one  the  associate  of  the  educated 
and  the  great,  and  the  other  of  the  illiterate  and  humble;  ami 
yet  they  were  equals  in  all  that  most  commands  the  affection  and 
gratitude  of  humanity.  They  will  always  have  the  worshipful 
affection  of  the  great  and  good  of  all  the  world. 
24  869 


370  OUR  PRESIDENTS. 

ANCESTRY   AND   EARLY   LIFE. 

Abraham  Lincoln  w«is  born  February  12,  ^309,  in  Lame 
county,  Kentucky.  It  is  a  picturesque  and  attractive  region  of 
country,  at  that  time  two-thirds  timbered  and  fertile  and  the 
other  third  in  rounded  knolls  and  hills  —"barrens" — covered 
with  scattered  oaks  and  other  trees.  About  a  mile  and  a  half 
from  Hodgenville,  the  county  seat,  near  Nolin  creek,  in  a  rude 
log  cabin,  our  child  of  the  woods  came  into  the  hands  of  his 
humble  parents.  After  two  years  they  moved  to  a  cabin  on 
Knob  creek,  six  miles  from  Hodgenville. 

Abraham's  father's  name  was  Thomas.  He  had  two  brothers, 
Mordecai  and  Josiah,  and  two  sisters,  Mary  and  Nancy.  Their 
father's  name  was  Abraham,  who  was  shot  while  at  work  in  his 
field  by  an  Indian  who  had  crept  stealthily  upon  him.  This 
Abraham  had  come  from  Virginia.  The  Virginia  Lincolns  came 
from  Berks  county,  Pennsylvania.  The  Pennsylvania  Lincolns 
were  Quakers,  and  may  have  come  from  England,  or,  more 
probably,  from  the  Lincolns  of  Massachusetts,  among  whom  the 
family  names  Abraham,  Mordecai  and  Thomas  abounded. 

Abraham  Lincoln  went  from  Buckingham  county,  in  the 
Shenandoah  valley,  Virginia,  to  Kentucky  about  the  year  1780. 
His  children  were  all  born  in  Virginia.  Thomas  Lincoln,  by  the 
early  death  of  his  father,  was  thrown  out  among  the  early 
settlers,  to  live  as  he  could  by  wandering  from  cabin  to  cabin  and 
working  as  he  could  get  opportunity.  Until  he  was  twenty- 
eight  years  old  he  worked  around  for  others,  without  money, 
without  object,  without  education.  At  that  age  he  married 
Nancy  Hanks,  who  was  also  born  in  Virginia.  He  took  her  to 
the  little  cabin  which  he  had  built,  where  were  born  three  chil- 
dren, Sarah,  Abraham  and  Thomas.  Thomas  died  in  infancy; 
and  Sarah  after  her  marriage.  She  had  no  child.  Abraham's 
mother  was  a  slender,  delicate  woman,  pale,  sad,  heroic  and  yet 
shrinking.  He  always  held  her  memory  in  the  profoundest 
respect,  and  said  once  to  an  intimate  friend,  with  his  eyes 
suffused  with  tears:  "All  that  I  am  or  hope  to  be  I  owe  to  my 
angel  mother — blessings  on  her  memory." 


ABRAHAM  LLtfCOLK.  371 

While  at  Knob  Creek,  Abraham  went  to  school  a  few  months, 
to  two  different  teachers.  His  parents  were  both  religious  per- 
sons—  Baptist  communicants.  Their  pastor,  Parson  Elkins, 
came  once  in  a  few  months  and  preached  in  the  neighborhood. 
His  coming  was  a  great  event  in  the  Lincoln  family,  and  deeply 
impressed  the  sensitive  minds  of  Sarah  and  Abraham.  From 
Parson  Elkin's  fervent  and  eloquent  sermons  came  Abraham's 
first  ideas  of  public  speaking,  as  well  as  his  first  impressions  of 
religion. 

In  Abraham's  eighth  year,  his  father  concluded  to  go  west 
and  north  of  the  Ohio  river.  He  sold  his  rude  home  for  three 
hundred  dollars  and  took  his  pay  in  ten  barrels  of  whisky  and 
twenty  dollars  in  money.  He  made  a  flat-boat  and  launched  it 
upon  Rolling  creek,  loaded  it  with  his  whisky  and  heavy  house- 
hold goods,  and  pushed  off.  Soon  after  he  reached  the  Ohio  he 
wrecked  his  boat  and  lost  two  thirds  of  his  whisky  and  some  of 
his  goods  and  farming  utensils.  Getting  help,  he  gathered  up 
what  he  could,  repaired  his  boat  and  floated  on  till  he  reached 
Thomson's  ferry,  Spencer  county,  Indiana,  where  he  landed, 
and  fixed  on  a  place  to  live,  eighteen  miles  from  the  ferry.  Leav- 
ing his  goods  in  the  care  of  a  settler,  and  crossing  the  river  at 
the  ferry,  he  took  a  bee  line  through  the  woods  for  his  home. 
This  was  in  the  autumn  of  1816.  The  family  soon  started  with 
their  bedding  and  light  goods  packed  on  three  horses,  for  their 
new  home. 

In  their  new  place  in  the  heavy  forest  of  Indiana,  they  built 
a  cabin;  cleared  up  land  as  fast  as  they  could,  and  tride  to  find 
rude  comfort  in  close  proximity  to  the  wild  beasts.  They  had 
been  here  but  two  years  when  Mrs.  Lincoln  died.  This  was  an 
inconsolable  sorrow  to  the  sensitive,  deep-thinking  children. 
Her  worn  out  body  was  buried  under  a  tree  near  the  cabin. 
But  it  was  a  great  pain  that  they  could  have  no  religious  burial 
service.  Abraham  had  had  some  further  attendance  upon  a 
school,  and  had  learned  to  write  a  little,  so,  after  consultation, 
t  was  agreed  that  Abraham  should  try  his  skill  in  writing  a 
letter  to  Parson  Elkins  to  ask  him  to  come  and  preach  a  funeral 
sermon  on  his  motherls  death.  This  was  no  doubt  the  first 


372  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

letter  he  ever  attempted  to  write.  If  Parson  Elkins  could  have 
known  that  it  was  from  a  future  president  of  the  United  States, 
it  would  doubtless  have  been  preserved.  Great  was  their  com- 
fort in  getting  a  letter,  in  a  few  weeks,  from  Parson  Elkins, 
setting  a  Sunday  some  months  ahead,  when  he  would  be  there, 
and  preach  as  desired.  The  mystery  of  writing  now  seemed  to 
have  a  sacred  meaning,  and  the  marvels  of  an  education  to  grow 
sublime  in  the  thought  of  these  afflicted  children  of  the  woods. 
They  thought  and  longed,  talked  and  waited  the  time  out,  send- 
ing word  everywhere  for  twenty  miles  around  to  their  forest 
neighbors,  when  lo,  at  the  appointed  time,  the  good  man  came, 
an  angel  of  comfort  and  blessing  indeed.  It  was  the  coming  of 
the  Lord  to  their  poor  hearts.  The  day  was  pleasant;  the  peo- 
ple came  to  the  number  of  some  two  hundred;  and  sitting  on 
the  stumps,  logs  and  ground  around  the  grave  of  the  mother  of 
our  great  president,  they  listened  to  the  gospel  of  immortality 
and  divine  love  as  preached  by  this  Saint  John  of  the  wilderness, 
crying  unto  men,  "Prepare  je  the  way  of  the  Lord."  That  day 
was  one  of  the  Lord's  precious  days  in  making  the  character  of 
Abraham  Lincoln.  The  tender  reverence  of  that  holy  day 
never  left  his  spirit. 

Abraham's  mother  had  some  education,  and  a  few  books 
which  she  read  often  to  her  two  children.  She  read  to  them 
from  the  bible  such  parts  as  was  best  for  them.  The  influence 
of  these  lessons  was  very  great  on  the  receptive  heart  of  her  son. 
The  poor  father  sat  by  and  listened,  only  to  value  an  education 
all  the  more  because  he  had  it  not.  On  this  account  he  embraced 
every  opportunity  to  give  Abraham  as  much  as  he  could. 

The  mother  died  in  1818,  so  that  Abraham  could  not  have 
been  quite  ten  years  old. 

He  had  three  different  teachers  while  living  in  Indiana,  but 
studied  only  a  few  weeks  with  each.  All  his  school  opportuni- 
ties, both  in  Kentucky  and  in  Indiana,  did  not  amount  to  more 
than  one  year.  But  he  read  much — not  many  books,  but  the  few 
lie  had.  He  read  the  bible  so  much  that  he  could  repeat  many 
parts  of  it.  JEsop's  Fables  he  read  till  he  knew  them  by  heart. 
Pilgrim's  Progress,  Weems'  Life  of  Washington,,  and  a  Life  of 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN.  373 

Henry  Clay,  he  read  over  and  over.  These  books  were  food  for 
his  hungry  mind. 

The  great  life  of  Washington  impressed  him  deeply,  and  in 
it  he  got  the  story  of  our  national  life,  and  the  principles  on 
which  the  republic  started.  Henry  Clay,  as  a  living  man,  won 
his  interest. 

In  a  little  more  than  a  year  after  his  mother's  death  his 
father  married  a  Mrs.  Sally  Johnston,  of  Kentucky,  who 
brought  with  her  three  children  by  a  former  marriage.  She 
was  a  good  step-mother,  and  the  united  families  lived  in  peace. 

At  this  early  age  Abraham  began  to  show  the  elements  of 
character  for  which  he  was  afterward  noted — great  good-nature, 
fondness  for  sport,  and  story-telling.  This  last  quality  was 
marked  in  his  father.  When  about  eighteen  years  of  age  he 
built  a  flat-boat  and  took  the  products  of  the  farm  to  Louisiana. 
The  next  year  he  was  applied  to,  by  a  trading  neighbor,  to  take 
a  boat-load  to  New  Orleans  for  him,  in  company  with  his  son. 
These  voyages  gave  him  a  glimpse  of  the  world  and  some  knowl- 
edge of  business.  At  this  time  he  had  become  a. vigorous  youth, 
six  feet  and  four  inches  high,  athletic,  muscular  and  enduring. 
His  reading,  his  two  journeys  to  New  Orleans,  his  quick  wit, 
his  story-telling  and  great  sociability,  his  honesty  and  freedom 
from  every  vice,  his  powerful  and  athletic  frame,  and  the  odd 
and  attractive  peculiarities  of  his  ways  and  conversation, 
already  made  him  the  center  of  attention  among  his  neighbors. 
Everybody  liked  him,  and  confided  in  him.  In  his  circle  he 
already  had  the  first  place. 

EARLY   MANHOOD. 

But  the  family  got  tired  of  heavy-timbered  Indiana,  and. 
when  Abraham  was  a  month  past  twenty-one,  started  for  the 
prairie  state  of  Illinois,  and  settled  on  the  Sangamoii  river, 
about  ten  miles  from  Decatur.  After  Abraham  had  helped  his 
father  build  a  cabin,  fence  in,  break  up  and  plant  to  corn  ten 
acres  of  prairie,  he  announced  his  intention  of  striking  out  for 
himself.  He  at  once  sought  work  among  the  neighboring  farm- 
ers, breaking  up  prairie,  splitting  rails,  putting  up  fences  and 


374  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

chopping  wood,,  or  doing  any  work  that  offered.  From  this  work 
he  got  the  name  of  "rail-splitter."  There  was  no  money  then, 
and  he  split  rails  for  the  cloth  to  make  his  clothes,  for  his  board 
and  the  things  he  needed.  One  who  used  to  work  with  him  at  this 
time  says  that  he  was  the  roughest  looking  person  he  ever  saw ; 
was  tall,  angular,  ungainly,  dressed  in  flax  and  tow  garments, 
out  at  the  knees ;  was  very  poor,  and  often  walked  six  or  seven 
miles  to  his  work,  yet  was  welcome  at  every  house  and  made 
friends  as  fast  as  he  made  acquaintances. 

Ahout  this  time  he  was  applied  to  to  take  a  flat-boat  to  New 
Orleans,  for  one  Denton  Offutt,  a  trader.  But  as  Offutt  could 
not  find  a  boat,  he  arranged  with  Lincoln  to  build  one  on  the 
Sangamon  river,  seven  miles  from  Springfield.  Two  other  men 
were  joined  with  him.  They  had  twelve  dollars  a  month  each. 
They  completed  the  boat,  loaded  it  with  hogs,  and  young  Lin- 
coln and  one  of  the  men  took  it  to  New  Orleans  and  sold  the 
load  and  boat,  with  such  good  results  that  Mr.  Offutt  put  Abra- 
ham in  charge  of  a  mill  and  store  at  New  Salem.  Store-keeping 
was  a  new  business  to  him,  but  he  soon  became  such  an  object 
of  interest  that  the  people  came  from  far  and  near  to  trade  with 
him.  Several  incidents  are  related  of  him  while  here  that  gave 
him  the  name  of  "Honest  Abe."  By  a  mistake  he  had  taken 
six  and  a  quarter  cents  too  much  of  a  woman  on  a  bill  of  goods. 
He  did  not  sleep  till  he  had  carried  it  to  her,  on  foot,  some  miles 
away.  By  another  mistake,  he  put  too  small  a  weight  on  his 
scales  for  a  pound  of  tea,  and,  after  closing  his  store  late  in 
the  evening,  carried  the  rest  of  the  tea  to  the  woman,  who  had 
got  less  than  she  paid  for. 

There  was  a  bullying  set  of  young  roughs  about  New  Salem 
who  tried  the  mettle  and  strength  of  every  young  man  who  came 
into  the  neighborhood.  One  of  them  came  into  the  store  in  a 
profane  and  abusive  way  when  some  ladies  were  in.  Abraham 
begged  him  to  desist  from  such  language  till  the  ladies  had  gone. 
He  finally  said:  "If  you  are  aching  for  a  whipping,  just  go  out- 
side till  I  am  done  with  these  ladies,  and  I  will  come  out  and 
attend  to  you/'  As  good  as  his  word,  he  went  out  and  laid  the 
fellow  on  his  back,  and,  in  the  utmost  good  nature,  rubbed  his 


ABKAHAM   LINCOLN.  375 

face  with  smartweed  till  ho  begged  lustily  for  quarter.  Then  he 
let  him  up,  got  water  and  washed  his  face,  and  made  the  bully 
and  his  associates  his  friends  by  the  operation.  A  few  other 
such  experiences  with  the  rough  elements  of  that  community 
won  them  all  to  him.  They  could  always  get  fun  but  never  a 
fight  out  of  him;  and  he  soon  became  their  ideal  good  fellow. 
His  imperturbable  good  nature  made  him  the  master  of  every 
situation  and  won  him  the  victory  in  every  coarse  onslaught 
upon  him. 

While  engaged  in  Offutt's  store,  Abraham  began  the  study 
of  English  grammar,  borrowing  a  copy  of  Kirkham's  grammar  of 
L.  M.  Green,  a  lawyer  of  Petersburg,  and  walking  eight  miles 
to  get  it.  He  used  to  talk  with  Mr.  Green  of  his  aspirations  and 
ambitions;  said  his  family  seemed  to  have  good  common  sense,  but 
none  of  them  had  become  distinguished;  that  possibly  he  might. 
He  had  talked  with  some  men  who  had  the  reputation  of  being 
great,  and  he  could  not  see  as  they  differed  much  from  other 
men.  It  is  evident,  from  all  we  get  of  him  at  this  period,  that 
he  had  begun  to  feel  the  ground-swell  of  the  grand  impulses 
that  were  in  him  and  to  think  of  the  greatness  possible  to  all 
true  souls  and  the  service  they  may  render  their  country  and 
kind.  He  read  much  while  at  New  Salem.  He  devoured  news- 
papers, particularly  the  Louisville  "Journal,"  so  long  edited  by 
the  witty  and  brilliant  Prentice. 

LINCOLN   A   SOLDIEK. 

While  Mr  Lincoln  was  at  New  Salem  the  Black  Hawk  war 
broke  out.  Mr.  Lincoln  enlisted  himself,  and  enough  in  his 
vicinity  to  make  a  company.  When  the  company  was  ready  to 
organize,  two  men  were  named  for  the  captaincy,  Lincoln  and  a 
Mr.  Kirkpatrick,  who  had  been  such  an  oppressive  employer  of 
young  Lincoln,  at  one  time,  that  he  had  left  him.  When  the 
company  was  collected  the  two  candidates  stood  at  a  little  dis- 
tance, and  each  man  in  the  company  went  to  the  man  he  wanted 
for  captain.  When  the  word  was  given  nearly  all  went  to 
Lincoln,  and  those  that  did  not  immediately  left  the  other  man 
and  went  over  to  him.  Lincoln  said  of  it :  "I  felt  badly  to  see 


376  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

him  cut  so."  Here  was  an  opportunity  to  be  avenged  for  his 
old  employer's  abuse  of  him ;  but  he  seemed  to  have  no  such 
feelings,  but  rather  pitied  him. 

In  the  army  Captain  Lincoln  was  a  great  favorite.  His 
wonderful  fund  of  good  humor;  his  kindness  to  his  men;  his 
patient  industry  and  tireless  energy;  his  readiness  to  join  in  all 
their  sports  and  outdo  them  all  in  their  athletic  feats,  made 
him  captain  indeed. 

Mr.  Lincoln  often  spoke  of  his  early  war-experience  in  a  jocose 
spirit,  but  it  had  lessons  and  opportunities  for  him,  as  every- 
thing he  touched  seemed  to  have.  Zachary  Taylor  was  in  the 
Black  Hawk  war  also,  so  that  two  embryo  presidents  had  a  part 
in  conquering  the  fierce  savage. 

When  the  soldiers  from  Sangamon  county  reached  home,  an 
election  was  just  coming  on.  They  at  once  proposed  Captain 
Lincoln  as  a  candidate  for  the  legislature.  He  was  now  twenty- 
three  years  old,  just  emerging  from  obscurity.  He  was  a  whig, 
an  admirer  of  Henry  Clay,  the  story  of  whose  life  had  captivated 
him  when  a  boy.  Andrew  Jackson  then  led  the  democratic 
hosts.  Sangamon  was  a  democratic  county,  and  Illinois  was  a 
democratic  state.  There  was  apparently  no  hope  for  the  promo- 
tion of  a  whig.  Yet  Abraham  Lincoln  had  adopted  the  politics 
of  the  minority,  and  accepted  the  nomination  as  a  minority  can- 
didate. In  New  Salem  he  got  almost  the  entire  vote,  but  in 
other  parts  of  the  county  he  lost  the  election. 

Mr.  Offutt  had  failed  in  business.  Mr.  Lincoln  was  mustered 
out  of  the  military  service,  was  not  elected  to  the  civil  service, 
and  therefore  was  without  employment.  What  should  he  do? 
He  thought  of  learning  the  blacksmith  trade.  He  was  handy 
with  tools;  something  of  a  general  mechanic;  he  must  do  some- 
thing. While  meditating  upon  this  matter,  a  friend  bought 
the  goods  in  the  store  in  New  Salem,  at  a  venture,  and  asked 
Mr.  Lincoln  to  take  an  account  of  his  stock  of  goods.  The 
result  of  it  was  that  Mr.  Lincoln  and  another  man  bought  the 
goods.  The  other  man  proved  a  trifler  and  Mr.  Lincoln's 
speculation  brought  him  considerable  in  debt  to  his  friend  of 
whom  he  had  bought.  He  afterward  spoke  jocosely  of  this 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN.  377 

indebtedness  as  "the  national  debt."  While  in  this  store  he  was 
appointed  postmaster,  by  President  Jackson.  This  he  liked,  for 
he  could  read  all  the  newspapers;  but  when  the  store  "winked 
out"  as  he  said,  he  put  the  postoffice  in  his  hat  and  carried  it 
wherever  he  went. 

LINCOLN   A   SURVEYOE. 

But  now  again  came  the  question,  what  should  he  do?  Just 
as  he  was  considering  this,  the  county  surveyor  proposed  to  him 
to  do  the  surveying  about  New  Salem.  He  knew  nothing  of 
surveying,  but  arranged  to  do  the  job,  went  right  at  the  study, 
and  soon  was  running  lines  and  staking  out  lots.  It  is  said  that 
his  surveying  has  stood  the  test  of  time.  This  surveying  led  him 
to  a  wide  acquaintance  in  the  county.  He  was  much  among  the 
farmers,  in  their  homes,  at  their  gatherings.  He  was  in  the 
villages  professionally,  and  came  close  to  all  the  people.  And 
everywhere  he  was  a  marked  man.  Everybody  liked  him.  His 
quaint  ways,  his  fascinating  stories,  his  knowledge  and  common 
sense,  his  freedom  from  selfishness,  his  warm  friendship  and 
readiness  to  lend  everywhere  a  helping  hand,  and  his  trans- 
parent simplicity  and  good  nature,  with  his  long,  gaunt,  peculiar 
figure,  made  him  the  most  popular  man  in  the  county. 

LINCOLN   A   LEGISLATOR. 

In  1834,  two  years  after  his  first  candidacy,  he  was  again  a 
candidate  for  the  legislature.  Now  his  friends  persuaded  him 
to  make  speeches,  which  he  said  he  would  do  if  they  "wouldn't 
laugh  at  him."  His  quaint  speeches  told.  They  were  like  him- 
self, somehow,  strangely  influential..  He  was  elected.  In  the 
same  legislature -was  Major  John  T.  Stuart,  who  had  conceived 
a  strong  personal  interest  in  him  in  the  Black  Hawk  war.  Mr. 
Lincoln  said  and  did  but  little  in  this  legislature,  but  observed 
•  and  thought  much.  It  was  a  school  to  him. 

Mr.  Stuart  suggested  to  him  to  study  law,  and  offered  to 
lend  him  books.  He  walked  to  Springfield  for  the  books  and 
and  surveyed  by  turns.  He  was  often  buried  in  his 


378  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

studies,  lost  to  everything  else.  Some  said  he  was  crazy.  He 
was  simply  absorbed  in  his  life's  work,  now  open  to  him  after  a 
singular  succession  of  experiences,  that  seemed  to  have  no  rela- 
tion to  this  study,  yet  led  him  in  a  roundabout  way  to  it. 

In  1836  he  was  renominated  to  the  legislature.  The  canvass 
was  a  very  warm  and  able  one.  Many  strong  men  were  in  the 
field.  Mr.  Lincoln  had  now  had  two  years  of  thorough  study. 
His  mind  had  been  stirred  to  action.  The  political  field  was 
alive  with  agitation.  He  had  recast  his  thoughts  in  his  late 
studies,  and  now  with  a  man's  grasp  of  mind  he  used  them  in 
his  speeches.  There  was  a  meeting  of  candidates  at  Springfield 
for  discussion,  and  a  great  gathering  of  the  people.  Kinian  "W. 
Edwards  opened  the  discussion  for  the  whigs.  Doctor  Early 
followed  him  for  the  democrats.  He  was  then  the  great  debater 
in  Illinois  on  that  side.  He  had  the  faculty  of  merciless  severity 
which  he  used  against  his  antagonist,  who  desired  an  immediate 
reply;  but  Mr.  Lincoln  got  the  floor  and  proved  himself  master 
of  the  situation.  He  took  up  Early's  speech  and  riddled  its 
weak  places,  shook  it  to  pieces  and  ridiculed  it,  all  the  time 
weaving  in  his  own  views  with  such  masterly  adroitness  that  he 
aroused  a  great  enthusiasm  in  the  audience.  Cheer  on  cheer 
followed  his  strong  points.  He  kindled  into  a  flame  of  impas- 
sioned speech.  His  countenance  was  transformed.  His  eyes 
were  fire;  his  stature  majestic;  his  voice  powerful  and  persua- 
sive. The  effect  of  his  speech  was  so  electrical  and  triumphant, 
that  from  that  hour  he  was  held  as  one  of  the  great  orators  of 
the  state.  And  yet  he  was  but  twenty-seven  years  old.  He 
went  to  the  legislature  that  year  Avith  a  strong  body  of  men, 
himself  recognized  as  their  peer.  Among  them  were  several 
who  afterward  held  high  national  positions;  one  of  them  was 
Stephen  A.  Douglas. 

The  great  work  of  that  legislature  was  to  institute  a  system 
of  internal  improvements  and  remove  the  capitol  to  Springfield, 
both  of  which  objects  were  included  in  one  bill.  Mr.  Lincoln 
was  put  forward  to  do  the  leading  work  for  the  bill.  The  bill 
was  carried  and  it  made  him  a  very  popular  man  in  his  county, 
and  especially  in  Springfield. 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN.  379 

But  this  session  of  the  legislature  was  more  remarkable  for 
what  seemed  to  be  an  insignificant  matter.  Abraham  Lincoln 
and  Stephen  A.  Douglas  met  here  for  the  first  time.  Mr. 
Douglas  was  but  twenty-three  years  old,  the  youngest  and  small- 
est man  in  the  house  —  "the  least  man  I  ever  saw,"  Lincoln 
said.  The  state  was  overwhelmingly  democratic.  The  slavery 
agitation  was  getting  strong  all  over  the  country.  The  demo- 
cratic party  was  pro-slavery;  the  whig  party  not  anti-slavery, 
but  complacent  and  conciliatory  toward  "the  institution."  To 
show  its  loyalty,  the  democratic  party  in  the  Illinois  legislature, 
took  pains  to  pass  some  pro-slavery  resolutions.  Stephen  A. 
Douglas  was  zealous  for  these  resolutions,  and  then  and  there 
took  his  public  position  on  the  side  of  slavery  and  its  bad  policy 
and  inhumanity,  to  be  carried  on  to  an  untimely  grave  and  a 
disappointed  and  unfruitful  life.  Abraham  Lincoln  had  seen 
slaves  sold  in  New  Orleans,  and  had  felt  a  pang  of  sorrow  for 
the  poor  victims  of  human  cupidity  and  power.  His  judgment, 
his  conscience,  his  heart,  were  against  slavery.  Politically  he 
held  it  as  bad  policy  to  hold  slaves  even  where  the  constitution 
allowed  it.  Into  the  territories  the  constitution  could  not  carry 
slavery,  he  said.  Only  the  people  of  the  territories  could 
establish  it  there.  So  on  this  mild  anti-slavery  ground  he  took 
his  stand  in  this  legislature,  against  the  democratic  policy,  in 
advance  of  the  whig  policy,  in  what  seemed  a  hopeless  minority, 
to  rise  in  power  and  influence  and  win  a  victory  for  his  princi- 
ples throughout  the  world  and  an  immortality  of  glory  and 
renown  for  himself. 

When  the  resolutions  were  passed,  Mr.  Lincoln  and  Dan 
Stone,  whig  members  from  Sangamon,  entered  their  protest 
upon  the  Journal  of  the  House,  with  their  reasons,  which  were, 
that  "While  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  has  no  power  to 
interfere  with  the  institution  of  slavery  in  the  different  states, 
and  while  the  promulgation  of  abolition  doctrines  tends  rather  to 
increase  than  abate  its  evils,  still  the  institution  of  slavery  is 
founded  on  both  injustice  and  bad  policy,  and  Congress  has 
power,  under  the  constitution,  to  abolish  slavery  in  the  District 


380  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

of  Columbia,  though  this  power  ought  not  to  be  exercised  unless 
at  the  request  of  the  people  of  said  district." 

This  was  Mr.  Lincoln's  mild  position,  then  taken,  and  there 
he  stood  until  military  necessity  compelled  him,  as  the  com- 
mander-in-chief  of  the  Union  army,  to  grant  freedom  to  all  the 
slaves. 

The  positions  then  taken  by  Douglas  and  Lincoln  were 
argued  by  them  through  many  years,  and  on  many  platforms, 
and  their  arguments  had  more  to  do  in  bringing  the  subject  in 
a  political  form  before  the  people  than  any  other.  They  must  be 
pronounced  the  foremost  men  in  this  battle  of  the  giants. 

It  must  be  kept  in  mind  that  Mr.  Lincoln  had  not  yet 
entered  his  profession;  was  very  poor;  practicing,  surveying,  to 
earn  his  bread  while  studying  law;  that  he  walked  to  and  from 
the  legislature,  a  hundred  miles  each  way,  and  yet  had  already 
become  a  central  figure  around  which  was  soon  to  gather  the 
moral  and  political  forces  of  one  of  the  greatest  movements  of 
the  world.  His  strong  common  sense,  becoming  bright  with  the 
light  of  genius,  won  him  favor  wherever  he  was  known,  and 
fixed  upon  him  the  eyes  of  some  as  one  who  might  develop 
great  power. 

He  had  long  been  in  the  habit  of  putting  his  thoughts  into 
writing.  He  wrote  much.  This  gave  him  the  power  of  clear 
statement.  His  knowledge  was  limited,  but  what  he  knew,  he 
knew  well;  and  he  thought  and  wrote  about  it,  till  it  became  a 
part  of  himself. 

With  all  his  joviality,  he  was  a  serious  man,  and  studied  pro- 
foundly the  problems  of  life.  "Oh!  how  hard  it  is  to  die  and 
not  be  able  to  leave  the  world  any  better  for  one's  little  life  in 
it,"  he  said  to  a  friend  in  his  early  manhood.  In  his  seriousness, 
he  was  sometimes  oppressed  to  melancholy.  He  often  meditated 
upon  the  sad  side  of  life,  and  groaned  in  spirit  over  the  corrup- 
tions of  the  world.  His  own  life  was  a  profound  study  to  him. 
Opening  so  obscurely  and  humbly,  and  coming  on  by  such 
unpromising  ways,  hindered  and  oppressed,  and  set  back  and 
defeated  so  often,  where  was  it  leading  to?  He  felt  an  inex- 
pressible yearning  for  knowledge,  usefulness  and  recognition; 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN.  381 

Tmt  would  he  ever  attain  these?  He  was  childlike  in  his  simpli- 
city and  honesty  He  assumed  nothing,  but  was  always  just 
himself  and  nothing  else. 

Mr.  Lincoln,  from  his  early  youth,  was  religious  in  spirit. 
He  had  no  professional  or  dogmatic  religion,  but  was  tenderly 
reverent  toward  the  great  Father  of  his  spirit,  and  the  souls  of 
his  children.  His  early  bible  study,  his  "angel  mother's" 
reverent  lessons,  and  Parson  Elkin's  influence,  made  impressions 
that  he  never  lost.  He  adopted  no  creed,  joined  no  church,  yet 
respected  all. 

In  his  later  readings  he  had  fallen  in  with  some  works  of 
science.  He  was  much  interested  in  geology.  It  brought  him 
close  to  nature  and  nature's  God.  He  studied  human  nature 
everywhere.  Even  when  jovial  he  was  studious,  and  through 
the  apparently  trifling  side  of  his  life,  found  avenues  into 
serious  reflections  and  reverent  communings. . 

MR.    LINCOLN   A   LA.WYER. 

In  the  autumn  of  1836,  Mr.  Lincoln  was  admitted  to  the  bar, 
having  done  nearly  all  his  studying  by  himself,  and  having  been 
a  surveyor,  and  a  legislator,  and  a  general  reader  of  politics  and 
the  news  in  the  meantime.  While  studying,  he  had  attended 
some  courts,  and  familiarized  himself  a  little  with  their  proceed- 
ings. He  received  at  once  an  invitation  from  Major  Stuart  to 
become  his  law  partner  in  Springfield.  Mr.  Lincoln  was  already 
well  known  in  Springfield,  and  honored  for  what  he  had  done 
to  make  it  the  capital  of  the  state.  In  April,  1837,  he  took  up 
his  abode  there. 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  now  well  established  in  the  principles  in 
life  to  which  he  always  adhered  ;  was  a  genuine  temperance  man, 
openly  and  actively  on  the  side  of  that  great  reform ;  was  a 
politician  of  moderately  reformatory  tendencies;  was  a  humane 
man,  and  profoundly  sincere  and  honest. 

He  had  had  a  curious  and  marked  experience  at  New  Salem. 
This  rude  country  village  had  served  him  well  as  a  place  in 
which  to  get  a  start  in  life ;  and  he  now  left  it  with  many 
misgivings  and  questionings  as  to  his  future  career. 


382  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

The  next  July  he  was  summoned  to  an  extra  session  of  the 
legislature,  and  very  soon  after  Mr.  Stuart  was  elected  to  Con- 
gress; so  that  their  legal  practice  was  somewhat  interrupted. 
The  next  year  he  was  re-elected  to  the  legislature.  At  once  he 
was  recognized  as  the  leading  whig  member,  and  he  came  within 
one  vote  of  being  made  the  speaker.  The  partisan  aspects  of  the 
state  had  changed  much.  The  result  of  Jackson's  financial 
policy  had,  as  the  whigs  said,  brought  the  cruelly  hard  times  of 
1837,  under  which  the  country  was  yet  suffering  terribly;  the 
gag-law  in  Congress,  under  Van  Buren,  Avhich  refused  to  con- 
sider all  petitions  and  papers  relating  to  slavery,  was  unpopular 
with  all  free-speech  men,  and  the  two  together  being  demo- 
cratic measures,  had  weakened  the  democratic  and  strengthened 
the  whig  party.  No  business  of  great  importance  came  before 
this  legislature. 

Mr.  Lincoln's  notoriety  soon  brought  him  legal  business, 
which  he  attended  to  with  the  utmost  fidelity.  It  was  not  long 
before  he  secured  a  great  reputation  as  a  case  and  jury  lawyer. 
His  good  humor,  fairness,  his  knowledge  of  jurors  and  per- 
suasive power  over  them,  and  skill  in  managing  cases,  gave  him 
an  extensive  business,  so  that  in  all  the  circuit  of  counties 
through  which  he  practiced  he  was  often  on  nearly  all  of  the 
important  cases. 

In  1840  Mr.  Lincoln  was  again  elected  to  the  legislature,  and 
served  because  it  was  at  home,  but  he  refused  longer  to  accept 
this  office. 

About  this  time  a  strange  episode  in  Mr.  Lincoln's  life 
occurred,  not  at  all  creditable  to  his  judgment  or  moral  cour- 
age, according  to  our  notions  of  these  things.  A  poem  appeared 
in  the  Sangamon  "Journal"  sharply  reflecting  on  James  Shields, 
a  young  lawyer  of  Springfield,  afterward  General  Shields  and 
United  States  senator.  It  was  anonymous,  but  written  by  a 
young  lady.  Shields  was  fiercely  angry  about  it,  and  must 
know  the  author  or  fight  the  editor,  Simeon  Francis.  The 
young  lady  was  a  personal  friend  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  Francis 
went  to  Lincoln  for  counsel.  It  was  understood  that  somebody 
must  fight  a  duel  with  the  hot-blooded  young  Shields  or  be 


ABHAHAM  LINCOLN".  383 

branded  as  a  coward.  Lincoln  told  the  editor  that  if  the  young 
man  should  again  demand  the  author's  name  to  tell  him  that 
he,  Lincoln,  held  himself  responsible  for  the  poem.  When 
Shields  was  told  this  he  at  once  sent  a  challenge  to  Lincoln. 
It  was  accepted,  and  Lincoln  chose  broadswords  as  weapons, 
and  put  himself  under  training.  The  duel  was  to  be  on  Bloody 
Island,  in  the  Mississippi  river;  but  friends  interfered  and 
prevented  it,  but  its  contemplation  was  a  stain  on  both  their 
reputations. 

It  has  been  charged  upon  Mr.  Lincoln  that  he  indulged  in 
smutty  stories  unfit  to  be  heard  by  chaste  ears,  and  his  biog- 
raphers accept  the  charge  as  true,  but  explain  it  on  two 
grounds :  First,  that  it  is  common  in  the  members  of  the  legal 
profession,  who  in  their  business  become  familiar  with  the  filth 
and  smut  of  humanity ;  and  second,  that  he  told  these  stories 
because  of  their  wit,  and  not  because  of  their  smut.  They  say 
he  was  intensely  fond  of  wit,  and  had  no  sympathy  with  human 
filth.  But  no  explanation  atones  for  the  blemish  of  such  a 
practice.  It  is  no  part  of  a  true  man,  and  no  matter  who 
indulges  in  it,  nor  under  what  circumstances,  it  is  not  only  a 
fault  but  a  vicious  practice.  We  can  well  understand  how  Mr. 
Lincoln  had  been  familiar  with  such  jokes  and  stories  from  his 
boyhood,  by  the  society  in  which  he  had  mingled,  but  that  when 
he  became  a  man  he  did  not  revolt  against  their  use  and 
discontinue  them  is  against  his  taste  and  moral  sensibility. 

In  1840  Mr.  Lincoln  dissolved  his  partnership  with  Mr. 
Stuart,  and  formed  one  with  Judge  S.  T.  Logan,  of  Springfield. 
lie  now  resolved  to  devote  himself  more  to  his  profession,  but 
each  new  political  canvass  called  for  his  strong  services. 

In  1842  he  married  Miss  Mary  Todd,  a  daughter  of  Hon. 
Eobert  S.  Todd,  of  Lexington,  Kentucky.  Miss  Todd  had 
resided  for  some  time  at  Springfield.  They  did  not  set  up  a 
new  home  at  once,  but  boarded  at  the  Globe  Tavern.  His 
private  letters  at  this  time  indicate  much  pleasure  in  his  new 
relation. 

The  next  year- he  began  to  have  Congressional  aspirings,  but 
his  friend  Baker  got  the  nomination,  and  he  helped  elect  him. 


384  OUR  PRESIDENTS. 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  a  party  man,  and  trained  himself  to  keep 
step  with  his  party.  His  ideal  statesman  was  Henry  Clay,  and 
he  was  a  close  party  man  and  went  himself  no  farther  in  any 
direction  than  he  could  carry  his  party. 

In  1844  Henry  Clay  was  the  whig  candidate  for  the  presi- 
dency. Mr.  Lincoln  supported  him  with  his  whole  heart  and 
power,  speaking  in  many  parts  of  Illinois  and  Indiana,  and 
everywhere  putting  all  his  energy  and  enthusiasm  into  the  can- 
vass. But  he  was  defeated,  and  great  was  Mr.  Lincoln's  chagrin 
and  sorrow.  It  weakened  his  respect  for  the  popular  judgment. 
He  had  built  up  great  hopes  for  the  country  on  his  party  and 
his  political  idol,  hopes  not  so  well  founded  as  he  thought. 
Neither  his  party  nor  his  idol  had  the  merit  he  attributed  to  it. 
The  whigs  of  the  country  were  woefully  disappointed.  Mr. 
Clay  had  captivated  many  as  he  had  Mr.  Lincoln.  Everywhere 
there  was  grief  and  disheartenment  among  the  defeated  parti- 
sans of  the  great  Kentuckian. 

In  1846  Mr.  Lincoln  went  to  Lexington,  Kentucky,  to  hear 
Mr.  Clay's  speech  on  the  gradual  emancipation  of  the  slaves. 
The  speech  was  written  and  read.  It  disappointed  him.  It  was 
cool  and  commonplace.  The  fire  and  force  he  had  expected 
were  noiTin  it.  The  great  orator  and  statesman  were  not  mani- 
fest in  the  performance.  He  was  introduced  to  Mr.  Clay,  who 
was  cool  and  condescending,  though  he  knew  what  a  friend  and 
helper  he  had  in  Mr.  Lincoln.  He  invited  Lincoln  to  his  home 
at  Ashland.  It  was  such  a  gracious  expression  of  friendship  as 
was  infinitely  pleasing  to  our  humble  Illinois  devotee  of  the 
great  sage  of  Ashland.  He  went  and  was  graciously  entertained 
and  patronized  by  the  honored  whig  leader.  But  he  came  away 
a  sad  though  a  wiser  man  than  when  he  went.  Mr.  Clay,  while 
polite,  polished  and  hospitable,  was  so  conscious  of  his  superi- 
ority, so  condescending,  as  to  make  his  guest  painfully  sensible 
of  his  common  littleness.  Mr.  Clay  was  proud,  princely,  digni- 
fied; Mr.  Lincoln  was  humble,  plain,  childlike ;  how  could  they 
affiliate?  He  felt  that  Mr.  Clay  was  overbearing  and  domineer- 
ing, not  only  to  him,  but  to  everybody.  And  so  he  saw  his  idol 
broken.  It  was  a  good  lesson  to  the  partisanship  and  idolatry 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN.  385 

of  Mr.  Lincoln  to  a  great  leader.  It  taught  him  that  princi- 
ples rather  than  men  are  to  be  followed  and  have  the  devotion 
of  true  men. 

MR.    LINCOLN   A   CONGRESSMAN. 

December  6,  1847,  Mr.  Lincoln  took  his  seat  in  the  Thirtieth 
Congress,  as  a  member  of  the  Lower  House.  He  was  elected  the 
autumn  before,  and  made  an  active  canvass  of  his  district, 
which  gave  him  the  highest  majority  it  ever  gave  to  a  whig.  In 
his  canvass  he  discussed  the  annexation  of  Texas,  the  war  with 
Mexico  and  all  the  affiliated  measures  of  the  pro-slavery  democ- 
racy, protesting  against  the  whole;  and  also  the  importance  of 
a  protective  tariff  to  the  industries  of  the  country  which  were 
then  suffering,  as  he  claimed,  by  a  democratic  reduction  of  the 
tariff. 

Mr.  Polk  was  then  president,  and  it  was  .his  custom,  in  his 
messages,  to  set  forth  the  raiding  practices  of  Mexico  upon  the 
territory  of  the  United  States,  as  though  against  the  laws  of 
nations,  and  patiently  borne  by  us  till  forbearance  had  ceased  to 
be  a  virtue,  and,  that  war  had  been  declared  against  Mexico 
only  when  she  had  practiced  war  upon  us,  when  the  simple  facts 
were  that  we  had  sent  our  army  all  the  way  from  the  Nueces  to 
the  Rio  Grande,  some  two  hundred  miles  into  the  Mexican 
territory,  and  provoked  the  Mexican  soldiers  to  raid  upon  our 
outposts.  Mr.  Lincoln  took  up  this  matter  in  a  series  of  resolu- 
tions, which  he  offered,  asking  of  the  president  information  as 
to  the  spots  where  our  settlements  had  been  invaded,  the  partic- 
ular spot  where  our  peaceful  citizens  had  been  murdered,  by  Mexi- 
can soldiery,  and  for  detailed  information  as  to  particulars.  They 
were  so  full  of  "the  required  spots"  where  Mexican  outrages  had 
been  committed  upon  our  quiet  citizens  that  they  got  the  name  of 
the  "spot  resolutions."  In  view  of  the  facts  in  the  case,  they  made 
the  president's  messages  ridiculous.  Mr.  Lincoln  made  a  char- 
acteristic speech  in  behalf  of  the  resolutions,  but,  as  the  whigs 
were  in  the  minority,  the  resolutions  were  laid  on  the  table. 
The  whigs  in  Congress  were  in  a  dilemma.  They  did  not  believe  in 
the  war;  knew  it  had  been  provoked  and  forced  upon  the  Mexicans 
25 


386  OtIR   PRESIDENTS. 

by  our  government  to  filch  from  them  their  territory,  and  yet,  if 
they  did  not  vote  supplies  to  carry  it  on,  and  support  our  sol- 
diers in  their  dangerous  exposures,  they  were  called  unpatriotic 
and  barbarous.  In  a  speech  in  Congress,  January  12, 1848,  Mr. 
Lincoln,  in  a  cool,  clear  and  exact  statement  of  the  facts  in  the 
case,  showed  how  the  country  stood  in  relation  to  the  war,  and 
how  it  placed  the  whig  party. 

On  the  first  of  June,  1848,  the  whig  convention  met  at  Phila- 
delphia, to  nominate  a  candidate  for  the  presidency.  Henry 
Clay  was  the  idol  of  the  party,  but  he  had  been  defeated. 
Mr.  Lincoln  had  seen  him  and  lost  his  former  confidence  in 
him.  Mr.  Lincoln  was  in  the  convention,  and  did  not  approve 
of  nominating  Clay. 

General  Taylor,  a  nominal  whig,  though  he  had  not  voted 
for  forty  years,  had  come  back  from  the  Mexican  war  covered 
with  the  glory  of  a  military  chieftain.  His  career  had  been  a 
succession  of  victories,  which  the  democratic  papers  all  over  the 
country  had  magnified  into  most  magnificent  and  brilliant 
exploits  of  military  genius.  His  dispatches  had  been  the  simple, 
unpretending  facts  of  what  his  army  had  done.  Their  modesty 
was  praised  as  much  as  his  military  genius.  He  was  the  hero — 
the  Cincinnatus  of  the  hour.  The  democrats  made  his  glory 
ami  fired  the  country  with  it,  and  the  whigs  in  convention 
caught  it  upon  their  banner.  They  nominated  General  Zachary 
Taylor  as  their  candidate.  Of  course  it  put  them  in  an  awkward 
position  to  glorify  General  Taylor  and  denounce  the  war  that 
made  him  their  candidate  and  was  sure  to  elect  him.  But  this 
was  their  good  luck,  and  Lincoln  urged  his  nomination  and  that 
they  should  make  the  most  of  the  tide  in  his  favor.  He  coun- 
seled saying  as  little  as  possible  about  the  beginning  of  the  war 
which  the  whigs  were  in  no  way  responsible  for. 

Mr.  Lincoln  took  up  the  canvass  in  behalf  of  General  Taylor 
with  great  zeal,  going  first  from  Washington  to  New  England 
and  making  several  speeches  there.  He  canvassed  Illinois  and 
in  his  own  district  gave  Taylor  almost  as  large  a  vote  as  he  had 
got  himself  when  elected  to  Congress. 

Early  in  the  winter  Mr.  Lincoln  returned  to  Congress,  and 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN.  387 

went  as  a  recognized  anti-slavery  man,  who  would  do  as  much 
against,  slavery  as  the  constitution  would  permit  him  to  do. 
lie  was  a  constitutional  man,  loyal  to  that  great  charter  of 
American  liberty  as  to  the  rights  of  man  and  conscience.  In 
his  first  session  in  Congress  he  had  voted  forty-two  times  for  the 
Wilmot  Proviso,  had  stood  with  John  Quincy  Adams  stoutly 
for  the  right  of  petition,  and  was  counted  as  an  ally  of  Joshua 
R.  Geddings  and  men  of  his  convictions  and  conscience.  Dur- 
ing this  session  he  prepared  a  bill  for  the  abolition  of  slavery  in 
the  District  of  Columbia  with  the  consent  of  the  people  of  the 
District.  But  some  of  the  people  who  agreed  to  his  plan  at 
first,  withdrew  from  it,  and  time  was  not  permitted  him  to 
begin  anew,  and  so  his  bill  fell  through  before  coming  to  a  vote. 
His  service  in  Congress  closed  with  honor  and  profit  to  himself. 
As  Mr.  Lincoln  became  more  acquainted  with  educated  men 
and  society,  he  felt  more  intensely  his  lack  of  early  education; 
and  he  returned  from  Washington  to  his  home  resolved  to  make 
up  for  his  deficiency  as  much  as  he  could.  So  he  took  up  the 
study  of  geometry  and  went  through  the  first  six  books  of 
Euclid.  His  success  among  educated  men  surprised  him.  He 
felt  a  constant  gratitude  to  them  for  their  appreciation  of  his 
motives  and  their  kindness  to  him.  He  was  always  self-depre- 
cating, and  often  wondered  how  others  could  think  so  well  of 
him.  This  self-deprecation  was  greatly  magnified  by  his 
conscious  lack  of  an  education. 

RETURN  TO   HIS   PROFESSION. 

On  his  return  from  Congress  Mr.  Lincoln  took  up  again  the 
practice  of  his  profession;  and  now  for  a  number  of  years  had  one 
of  the  most  peaceful  and  enjoyable  portions  of  his  life.  He  had 
attained  a  conspicuous  place  among  his  countrymen;  had  formed 
a  large  acquaintance  among  the  great  and  good;  had  put  his 
original  obscurity  far  behind  him;  had  in  his  profession  a  way  to 
obtain  an  honorable  living  and  be  useful;  had  a  wife  and  little 
family;  had  books,  friends,  appreciative  society;  all  of  which  ha 
enjoyed  in  their  full  measure. 


388  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

By  the  distinguished  lawyers  who  knew  him  well  and  prac- 
ticed with  him,  he  was  profoundly  appreciated  as  a  man  and 
lawyer.  Judge  Caton,  said  of  him:  "He  applied  the  principles 
of  law  to  the  transactions  of  men  with  great  clearness  and 
precision.  He  was  a  close  reasoner.  He  reasoned  by  analogy 
and  enforced  his  views  by  apt  illustrations.  His  mode  of  speak- 
ing was  generally  of  a  plain  and  unimpassioned  character,  and 
yet  he  was  the  author  of  some  of  the  most  beautiful  and  eloquent 
passages  in  our  language,  which,  if  collected,  would  form  a 
valuable  contribution  to  American  literature.  The  most 
punctilious  honor  ever  marked  his  professional  and  private  life." 

Who  will  ever  know  what  society,  literature,  learning,  the 
country  and  humanity,  have  failed  to  have  that  is  rich  and 
grand,  because  his  great  soul  was  cheated  of  an  education  by  the 
hard  fortune  of  his  early  years? 

Judge  Breese,  said  of  him:  "  For  my  single  self,  I  have  for  a 
quarter  of  a  century,  regarded  Mr.  Lincoln  as  the  finest  lawyer  I 
ever  knew,  and  of  a  professional  bearing  so  high  toned  and 
honorable  as  justly,  and  without  derogating  from  the  claims  of 
others,  entitling  him  to  be  presented  to  the  claims  of  the 
profession,  as  a  model  well  worthy  the  closest  imitation." 

Judge  Drummond,  said  of  him:  "I  have  no  hesitation  in 
saying  that  he  was  one  of  the  ablest  lawyers  I  have  ever  known. 
No  intelligent  man  who  ever  watched  Mr.  Lincoln  through  a 
hard-contested  case  at  the  bar  ever  questioned  his  great  ability. 
With  a  probity  of  character  known  of  all,  with  an  intuitive 
insight  into  the  human  heart,  with  a  clearness  of  statement 
which  was  itself  an  argument,  with  uncommon  power  and  felicity 
of  illustration  —  often  it  is  true,  of  a  plain  and  homely  kind  — 
and  with  that  sincerity  and  earnestness  of  manner  which  carried 
conviction,  he  was,  perhaps,  one  of  the  most  successful  jury 
lawyers  we  have  ever  had  in  the  state.  He  always  tried  a  case 
fairly  and  honestly.  He  never,  intentionally,  misrepresented 
the  evidence  of  a  witness,  or  the  argument  of  an  opponent.  He 
met  both  squarely,  and,  if  he  could  not  explain  the  one,  or 
answer  the  other,  he  admitted  it.  He  never  misstated  the  law 
according  to  his  own  intelligent  view  of  it." 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN.  38'J 

In  1852,  on  the  death  of  Henry  Clay,  Mr.  Lincoln  delivered 
a  eulogy  on  that  famous  statesman  of  his  day.  The  eulogy  was 
calm,  and  probably  quite  less  enthusiastic  than  he  would  have 
given  before  his  visit  to  Ashland.  The  closing  words  are  worth 
repeating  here.  "Such  a  man  the  times  have  demanded,  and 
such,  in  the  providence  of  God,  was  given  us.  But  he  is  gone. 
Let  us  strive  to  deserve,  as  far  as  mortals  may,  the  continued 
care  of  Divine  Providence,  trusting  that  in  future  national 
emergencies,  he  will  not  fail  to  provide  us  the  instruments  of 
safety  and  security."  No  instrument,  since  the  days  of  Wash- 
ington, has  seemed  to  the  lovers  of  our  republic,  so  providential 
as  Mr.  Lincoln  himself.  To  no  other  have  his  words  such  a 
profound  application.  And  it  seems  almost  certain,  that  in  the 
generations  to  come,  he  will  be  held  as  the  preserver  of  the 
country  of  which  Washington  was  the  father. 

But  great  national  events  were  in  progress.  The  northern 
section  of  the  country  was  rapidly  overgrowing  the  southern. 
The  great  northwest  was  inviting  settlements.  The  western 
prairies  were  attracting  the  hardy  and  enterprising  from  the 
eastern  states  and  Europe.  It  was  becoming  clear  that  the 
balance  of  power  was  soon  to  be  in  the  north.  The  political 
leaders  of  the  south  who  were  devoted  to  slavery,  were  getting 
uneasy  and  absolute  in  their  determination  to  rule  or  ruin.  In 
1850,  the  free  state  of  California  was  admitted  to  the  Union. 
There  was  no  balancing  slave-state  to  come  in  with  it.  Califor- 
nia had  grown  to  a  free  state  on  territory  won  from  Mexico  by 
the  pro-slavery  war.  This  was  a  result  not  in  the  original 
calculation. 

In  the  whig  canvass  for  General  Scott,  in  1852,  Mr.  Lincoln 
took  but  little  interest,  and  General  Pierce,  who  ran  against 
him,  was  elected. 

In  1854,  the  Missouri  Compromise  of  1820,  which  shut 
slavery  out  of  the  whole  northwest,  was  abrogated,  with  a  view 
to  force  slavery  into  Kansas  and  Nebraska.  This  was  an  act  of 
bad  faith,  which  stirred  Mr.  Lincoln  deeply.  Northern  demo- 
crats, particularly  Mr.  Douglas,  acted  in  complicity  with  the 
south  in  the  matter,  and  this  stirred  northern  blood  far  more 


390  OUR    PRESIDENTS. 

than  the  action  of  southern  men.  It  was  understood  that  Mr. 
Douglas  was  the  author  of  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill,  which 
opened  those  territories  to  slavery.  It  made  him  unpopular 
with  many  of  his  friends,  and  when  he  went  home  to  Chicago 
and  attempted  to  make  a  speech  in  defense  of  his  work,  he 
was  prevented. 

A  few  weeks  after,  at  the  autumnal  fair  at  Springfield,  he 
made,  before  a  great  audience  of  representative  men  from  all 
parts  of  the  state,  his  defense  of  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill,  which 
Mr.  Lincoln  heard,  and  the  next  day  replied  to  in  one  of  the 
most  masterly  efforts  of  his  life.  He  spoke  three  hours,  but  no 
complete  report  of  his  speech  was  made.  The  press,  which 
sympathized  with  him,  gave  enthusiastic  accounts  of  it.  It  is 
certain  that  it  inaugurated  a  new  political  era  in  Illinois.  A 
few  days  after,  Mr.  Douglas  spoke  again  in  Peoria,  and  Mr. 
Lincoln  followed  him  with  much  the  same  effect.  This  speech 
was  reported.  Mr.  Douglas  retired,  and  they  held  no  more 
debates  that  season.  But  a  mighty  wave  of  thought  and 
emotion  was  started  among  the  people  which  would  not  stop. 

On  May  29,  1856,  a  convention  was  held  at  Bloomington, 
Illinois,  of  all  men  in  the  state  opposed  to  the  democratic  party. 
Mr.  Lincoln  was  present,  and  made  a  most  powerful  speech. 
One  biographer  says  of  it :  "Never  was  an  audience  more  com- 
pletely electrified  by  human  eloquence.  Again  and  again  during 
its  delivery  they  sprang  to  their  feet  and  upon  the  benches,  and 
testified  by  long  continued  shouts  and  the  waving  of  hats  how 
deeply  the  speaker  had  wrought  upon  their  minds  and  hearts. 
It  fused  the  mass  of  hitherto  incongruous  elements  into  perfect 
homogeneity;  and  from  that  day  to  the  present  they  have  worked 
together  in  fraternal  union."  The  republican  party  was  there 
organized  in  Illinois.  It  sent  delegates  to  the  next  national 
convention  with  Mr.  Lincoln's  name  as  a  candidate  for  the  vice- 
presidency.  But  Mr.  Dayton  was  nominated  with  Mr.  John  C. 
Fremont,  and  Mr.  Lincoln  was  only  "thus  formally  introduced 
to  the  nation. 

The  Kansas-Nebraska  excitement  grew  rapidly.  Mr.  Lin- 
coln, like  all  northern  men  of  his  opinions  and  character,  grew 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN.  391 

more  and  more  resolute  in  the  republican  doctrine  to  stop  the 
spread  of  slavery,  and  lead  it  into  its  present  constitutional 
localities.  And  with  this  resolution  grew  a  stronger  and 
stronger  opposition  to  slavery  itself. 

THE   GREAT  DEBATE. 

In  1858  began  the  celebrated  campaign  for  the  United 
States  senatorship  between  Mr.  Douglas  and  Mr.  Lincoln.  Mr. 
Lincoln  began  his  discussion  of  the  great  subject  then  before 
the  country  in  June,  at  the  state  republican  convention  in 
Springfield,  with  the  following  almost  prophetic  opening : 

"  If  we  could  first  know  where  we  are,  and  whither  we  are 
tending,  we  could  better  judge  what  to  do  and  how  to  do  it.  We 
are  now  far  into  the  fifth  year  since  a  policy  was  initiated  with 
the  avowed  object  and  confident  promise  of  putting  an  end  to 
slavery  agitation.  Under  the  operation  of '  that  policy  that 
agitation-  has  not  only  not  ceased,  but  has  constantly  aug- 
mented. In  my  opinion,  it  will  not  cease  until  a  crisis  shall 
have  been  reached  and  passed.  '  A  house  divided  against  itself 
cannot  stand/  I  believe  this  government  cannot  endure  per- 
manently half  slave  and  half  free.  I  do  not  expect  the  Union 
to  be  dissolved.  I  do  not  expect  the  house  to  fall,  but  I  do 
expect  it  will  cease  to  be  divided.  It  will  become  all  one  thing, 
or  all  the  other.  Either  the  opponents  of  slavery  will  arrest  the 
further  spread  of  it,  and  place  it  where  the  public  mind  shall 
rest  in  the  belief  that  it  is  in  the  course  of  ultimate  extinction, 
or  its  advocates  will  push  it  forward  till  it  shall  become  alike 
lawful  in  all  the  states,  old  as  well  as  new,  north  as  well 
as  south." 

The  speech  went  on  to  show  what  the  advocates  of  slavery, 
then  in  charge  of  the  government,  had  done  to  open  the  terri- 
tories to  slavery,  to  prevent  them  from  rejecting  slavery;  to 
carry  slaves  into  the  free  states,  and  what  they  were  preparing 
to  do,  to  open  the  way  to  force  slavery,  by  a  Supreme  Court 
decision  into  the  free  states.  But  this  result  must  be  prevented, 
he  contended,  by  putting  the  government  into  new  hands  which 
would  put  it  back  into  its  original  condition  in  which  it  should 


392  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

move  toward  the  ultimate  extinction  of  slavery.  He  closed  in 
these  words:  "  We  shall  not  fail  —  if  we  stand  firm,  we  shall  not 
fail.  Wise  counsels  may  accelerate  or  mistakes  delay  it,  but 
sooner  or  later,  the  victory  is  sure  to  come." 

He  made  two  or  three  other  speeches,  and  -Mr.  Douglas  made 
some,  to  one  or  two  of  which  he  replied,  when  he  made  a  propo- 
sition to  Mr.  Douglas  to  canvass  the  state  together.  But  Mr. 
Douglas  objected  on  the  ground  that  his  arrangements  were  too 
far  made,  but  proposed  to  join  with  him  in  a  discussion  at  seven 
places  in  different  parts  of  the  states.  This  arrangement  was 
made  and  these  discussions  were  held,  awakening  an  immense 
interest  among  the  people,  not  only  of  Illinois,  but  of  the  Avhole 
country.  The  great  issue  of  that  time  was  laid  bare  before 
the  people.  The  discussion  went  over  the  whole  country  as  a 
republican  campaign  document,  and  was  read  and  talked  of  till 
the  whole  reading  north  became  acquainted  with  the  issue  as 
there  presented. 

Mr.  Lincoln  lost  the  election  to  the  Senate,  but  he  gained 
the  ear  and  confidence  of  the  republican  north.  The  discussion 
consolidated  the  republican  party,  intensified  the  northern 
opposition  to  slavery,  and  still  more  the  opposition  to  the  party 
in  power  which  was  using  all  its  energy  to  carry  out  the  grasping 
purposes  of  a  few  radical  pro-slavery  leaders.  The  ultimate 
result  of  the  discussion  was  that  Mr.  Lincoln  won  the  presidency, 
the  destruction  of  slavery,  a  country  all  free,  and  a  martyrdom 
that  put  his  name  where  it  stands  among  the  "immortal  few 
that  were  not  born  to  die." 

In  1859,  at  the  republican  state  convention  at  Decatur,  two 
rails  from  a  lot  of  three  thousand  which  Mr.  Lincoln  had  made 
when  he  first  came  to  the  state,  were  brought  into  the  conven- 
tion where  he  was  soon  to  speak,  considerably  ornamented,  and 
bearing  this  inscription:  "Abraham  Lincoln,  the  'rail-splitter/ 
candidate  for  the  presidency  in  1860." 

During  the  latter  part  of  1859  and  the  early  part  of  1860, 
Mr.  Lincoln  traveled  into  Kansas,  Ohio,  New  York  and  New 
England.  His  visit  in  Kansas  was  an  ovation.  The  people 
knew  they  had  a  friend  in  this  great-hearted  man,  and  they 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN.  393 

came  in  immense  throngs  to  see  and  hear  him.  They  knew  him, 
his  principles  and  power,  already,  by  reading  his  discussions, 
and  they  wanted  to  look  at  his  person  and  hear  his  voice.  In 
Ohio  he  found  a  hearty  reception,  and  his  speeches  kindled 
the  usual  enthusiasm.  He  went  on  to  New  York,  under  an 
arrangement  with  Eeverend  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  to  speak  in 
Plymouth  church.  He  heard  Mr.  Beecher,  which  was  a  great 
pleasure  to  him;  but  found  that  arrangements  had  been  made 
for  him  to  speak  in  Cooper  Institute.  He  was  anxious  about 
his  speech.  He  knew  his  lack  of  polish;  his  crude  appearance; 
his  want  of  education;  now  to  come  before  the  educated, 
polished  and  strong  men  of  this  great  city,  was  a  trial  to  his 
courage.  The  great  hall  was  packed  with  brains,  culture,  worth. 
The  magnates  covered  the  platform.  William  Cullen  Bryant, 
whose  poems  he  had  read  and  admired,  introduced  him.  As  he 
rose  and  stood  in  his  great  height,  six  feet  and  four  inches,  in 
that  dazzling  throng,  he  was  bewildered.  What  business  had 
he,  a  poor,  awkward,  uneducated  man  of  the  wild  west,  to 
stand  there  and  expect  to  be  heard  with  patience?  He  was 
embarrassed  and  humiliated;  but  he  had  something  to  say,  and 
he  must  say  it.  He  began  with  a  low  voice  and  a  slow  utterance. 
He  laid  down  his  iniatory  propositions  with  great  deliberation. 
The  great  audience  listened  with  breathless  attention.  It  was 
something  new,  a  new  man,  manner  and  statement;  it  was 
clear,  convincing,  brilliant.  He  had  got  but  little  way  on  in 
his  terse  and  strong  work,  before  a  vigorous  round  of  applause 
assured  him  that  he  was  understood  and  appreciated.  He  now 
began  to  be  at  home;  his  manner  became  more  free  and  confi- 
dent; his  voice  filled  and  yielded  readily  to  the  sentiment.  He 
became  master  of  the  situation,  and  went  through  to  the  close 
carrying  his  great  audience  with  him  in  rapturous  admiration 
of  his  argument,  rhetoric  and  unique  and  wonderful  illustra- 
tion. The  whole  performance  was  so  original,  incisive,  marrow- 
searching  and  powerful  that  it  became  the  great  political  and 
literary  feast  of  the  season.  The  papers  spread  it  and  eulogized 
it;  the  people  read  it  and  talked  about  it.  The  writer  of  this 
sketch  well  remembers  the  enthusiasm  he  felt  in  reading  the 


394  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

speech,  and  in  the  conviction  that  a  great  and  brilliant  star  had 
risen  in  the  political  fifmament. 

Mr.  Lincoln  made  many  valuable  acquaintances  in  New 
York,  who  served  him  and  the  country  well  in  his  time  of 
sore  need. 

He  had  a  son  in  Harvard  college  whom  he  Avent  to  see;  and 
while  there  he. made  speeches  in  different  places,  always  with 
similar  results.  It  was  a  study  to  him  to  know  why  educated 
New  York  and  New  England  so  readily  accepted  and  enjoyed 
his  humble  efforts  at  public  speaking;  why  college  presidents 
and  professors  came  to  hear  him  and  set  him  before  their 
students  as  an  example  in  many  particulars.  Perhaps  never  in 
his  life  had  he  been  more  appreciated  than  in  the  speeches  made 
on  this  eastern  trip.  They  were  the  best  he  had  ever  made.  He 
was  really  all  the  while  improving.  They  told  mightily  for  his 
future  and  for  his  country.  His  manner  of  treating  the 
southern  people  in  these  speeches  was  very  acceptable  to  the 
people  of  the  north.  He  was  fair,  candid,  kind  —  even  affec- 
tionate toward  them.  He  was  southern  born;  his  wife  was 
southern  born  and  reared.  His  heart  was  large,  and  .he  really 
loved  everybody.  This  good  nature  so  pervaded  his  speeches 
that  they  won  upon  the  public.  Then  they  were  intensely 
logical  and  searching.  They  went  to  the  roots  of  right  and 
wrong;  they  magnified  just  principles;  loved  freedom  and  hated 
slavery;  they  were  put  in  simple  but  choice  language;  they  were 
full  of  nut-shell  statements  of  important  facts  and  principles; 
and,  beyond  all  this,  they  were  unique  in  their  quaint  and 
crystaline  originality. 

THE   COMING   STORM. 

During  all  this  great  discussion,  which  was  getting  more  and 
more  intense  and  thorough,  there  were  constant  threats  of 
secession  and  disunion  from  the  southern  leaders.  The  northern 
people  were  but  little  moved  by  these  threats.  They  counted 
them  as  the  bravado  of  the  fire-eating  radicals  in  which  the 
solid  southern  people  took  little  part.  They  believed  the  people 
of  the  south  loved  the  union  and  would  stand  by  it.  They  could 


ABKAHAM   LINCOLN.  395 

see  nothing  but  disaster  and  wretchedness  to  the  south  in  any 
attempt  to  be  separate  from  the  north,  peaceably  or  otherwise. 
The  north  had  numbers,  wealth,  mechanism,  skill,  productive 
ability,  a  laborious  people,  who  had  never  been  found  wanting  in 
patriotism  far  surpassing  the  south;  and  the  people  of  the  north 
could  not  believe  the  people  of  the  south  would  be  so  unwise  as 
to  deliberately  commit  themselves  to  the  folly  of  secession — to 
their  own  certain  ruin.  Moreover,  they  thought  the  people 
of  the  south  wanted  to  maintain  slavery,  which  they  would  be 
sure  to  lose  if  they  attempted  disunion. 

In  April  of  this  year,  1860,  the  national  democratic  conven- 
tion met  in  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  only  to  fail  to  nominate 
Mr.  Douglas,  or  any  other  man.  It  adjourned  till  June  to  meet 
in  Baltimore.  In  the  meantime  the  radical  southern  element 
nominated  John  C.  Breckenridge,  of  Kentucky,  and  the  consti- 
tutional union  element  nominated  John  Bell,  of  Tennessee. 
The  regular  convention  at  Baltimore  nominated  Mr.  Douglas. 
This  break-up  forced  by  the  southern  radicals  made  sure  the 
election  of  the  republican  nominee.  The  republican  convention 
met  in  Chicago,  June  16,  a  very  large  and  enthusiastic  conven- 
tion. William  H.  Seward  and  Mr.  Lincoln  were  the  leading 
candidates.  On  the  third  ballot  Mr.  Lincoln  was  nominated. 
So  it  turned  out  that  Mr.  Douglas  and  Mr.  Lincoln  ran  for  the 
presidency  at  the  same  time,  the  one  the  leader  of  a  broken  and 
discordant  party,  the  other  of  an  enthusiastic  and  united  host. 

Mr.  Lincoln  soon  began  to  realize  both  the  pleasures  and 
annoyances  of  his  candidacy.  Friends  came  from  everywhere 
to  see  him.  Nobody  seemed  to  have  so  many  friends  as  he. 
He  had  to  abandon  all  attempts  to  see  them  at  his  house,  and 
resort  to  the  executive  chamber  of  the  state  house.  It  seemed 
sure  to  his  great  party,  now  full  of  enthusiasm  for  its  principles, 
that  he  would  be  elected,  and  office-seekers  became  abundant. 
That  which  began  as  a  pleasure  soon  began  to  have  its  vexations. 
He  accepted  the  nomination  in  humiliation.  He  had  always 
distrusted  his  own  capacities,  and  this  feeling  of  incompetency 
often  overwhelmed  him.  He  was  intensely  honest  and  earnest 
in  his  republican  principles.  They  had  come  to  be  his  religion. 


396  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

He  felt  that  a  crisis  had  come  to  his  country  when  the  spread 
of  slavery  must  be  stopped,  or  the  foul  leprosy  would  spread 
over  the  whole  country  and  the  republic  would  become  a  slav- 
ocracy  more  unendurable  than  any  monarchy.  In  one  of  his 
anxious,  desponding  moods,  he  one  evening  asked  Mr.  Newton 
Bateman,  superintendent  of  public  instruction,  whose  office 
opened  into  the  executive  chamber,  to  come  in.  He  locked  the 
doors  and  they  sat  down  and  talked.  Mr.  Lincoln  had  done 
this  to  unbosom  himself  to  his  friend.  He  took  a  little  book 
from  his  drawer  containing  the  names  of  all  the  voters  of 
Springfield  and  how  they  would  vote.  They  ran  them  over 
together.  He  was  particular  to  note  the  names  of  the  ministers 
and  leading  churchmen.  At  length  he  said  in  great  sadness: 
"Here  are  twenty-three  ministers,  of  different  denominations, 
and  all  of  them  are  against  me  but  three;  and  here  are  a  gretit 
many  prominent  members  of  the  churches,  a  very  large  majority 
of  whom  are  against  me.  Mr.  Bateman,  I  am  not  a  Christian  — 
God  knows  I  would  be  one  —  but  I  have  carefully  read  the  bible 
and  I  do  not  understand  this  book,"  and  he  drew  from  his 
bosom  a  pocket  New  Testament.  "  These  men  well  know,"  he 
continued,  "that  I  am  for  freedom  in  the  territories,  freedom 
everywhere  as  far  as  the  constitution  and  laws  will  permit,  and 
that  my  opponents  are  for  slavery.  They  know  this,  and  yet 
with  this  book  in  their  hands,  in  the  light  of  which  human 
bondage  cannot  live  a  moment,  they  are  going  to  vote  against 
me.  I  do  not  understand  it  at  all." 

Here  he  stopped,  overcome  with  emotion.  Then  he  walked 
the  room,  seeking  to  regain  self-possession.  At  length,  his  cheeks 
wet  with  tears,  he  said,  with  a  slow,  tremulous  voice:  "I  know 
there  is  a  God,  and  that  he  hates  injustice  and  slavery.  I  see 
the  storm  coming,  and  I  know  that  his  hand  is  in  it.  If  he  has 
a  place  and  work  for  me,  and  I  think  he  has,  I  believe  I  am 
ready.  I  am  nothing,  but  truth  is  everything.  I  know  I  am 
right,  for  Christ  teaches  it,  and  Christ  is  God.  I  have  told 
them  that  a  house  divided  against  itself  cannot  stand,  and  Christ 
and  reason  say  the  same ;  and  they  will  find  it  so.  Douglas 
don't  care  whether  slavery  is  voted  up  or  voted  down,  but  God 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN".  d97 

cares,  and  humanity  cares,  and  I  care ;  and  with  God's  help  I 
shall  not  fail.  I  may  not  see  the  end,  but  it  will  come,  and 
I  shall  be  vindicated,  and  these  men  will  find  that  they  have  not 
read  their  bibles  aright." 

In  saying  this  his  manner  was  indescribably  solemn.  After 
a  little  silence  he  resumed:  "  Doesn't  it  appear  strange  that  men 
can  ignore  the  moral  aspects  of  this  contest?  Revelation  could 
not  make  it  plainer  to  me  that  slavery  or  the  government  must 
be  destroyed.  The  future  would  be  something  awful,  as  I  look 
at  it,  but  for  this  rock  on  which  I  stand  [the  New  Testament, 
which  he  still  held  in  his  hand],  especially  with  the  knowledge 
of  how  these  ministers  are  going  to  vote.  It  seems  as  if  God  had 
borne  with  this  thing  [slavery]  until  the  very  teachers  of  religion 
have  come  to  defend  it  from  the  'bible  [quite  common  in  the 
south],  and  to  claim  for  it  a  divine  character  and  sanction ; 
and  now  the  cup  of  iniquity  is  full,  and  the  vials  of  wrath  will 
be  poured  out." 

It  was  not  often  that  Mr.  Lincoln  so  revealed  his  inner  self ; 
but  Doctor  Bateman  was  his  intimate  friend,  whose  excellent 
Christian  character  he  profoundly  respected.  This  conversation 
reveals  one  of  the  secrets  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  power  with  the 
people.  He  was  profoundly  confident  of  being  on  God's  side 
in  these  great  matters  of  slavery  and  the  existence  of  the 
republic.  Mr.  Lincoln  lived  two  lives,  one  a  profoundly  thought- 
ful and  religious  one,  the  other  an  outward,  jocose  one.  Few 
saw  much  of  his  inward  life,  though  his  great  speeches  gave 
enough  of  its  flavor  to  win  and  carry  all  true  souls  who  heard  or 
read  them. 

But  the  great  canvass  moved  on.  The  votes  of  the  nation 
were  cast  and  counted.  Mr.  Lincoln  was  elected.  The  friends 
of  equality  and  liberty  were  jubilant.  The  friends  of  slavery 
were  sullen  and  threatening. 

At  once  secession  began  to  be  prepared  for.  South  Carolina, 
the  hot-bed  of  nullification  under  Calhoun,  was  now  the  breed- 
ing place  of  secession.  On  the  tenth  of  NV/ember,  1860,  four 
days  after  Mr.  Lincoln's  election,  a  bill  was  introduced  in  its 
legislature  calling  out  ten  thousand  volunteers.  On  the  tenth 


398  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

and  eleventh  of  December,  its  senators  in  Congress  resigned. 
A  convention  was  called  on  the  seventeenth,  and  on  the  twen- 
tieth South  Carolina  seceded,  and  arranged  fcr  a  convention 
of  seceding  states  at  Montgomery. 

0-n  the  tenth  of  December  the  United  States  secretary  of  the 
treasury,  Howell  Cobb,  resigned.  On  the  eighteenth,  Floyd,  the 
secretary  of  war,  accepted  a  requisition  from  South  Carolina  for 
her  share  of  United  States  arms  for  1861.  Meetings  were  held 
all  over  the  south  to  prepare  for  secession.  On  the  eighth 
of  January,  1861,  a  caucus  of  southern  senators  at  Washington 
counseled  immediate  secession.  Soon  Mississippi,  Florida, 
Alabama,  Georgia,  Louisiana  and  Texas,  accepted  the  counsel. 
Forts,  and  arsenals  and  arms  were  seized  in  all  these  states.  In 
Mr.  Buchanan's  cabinet  the  southern  secretaries  boldly  demanded 
the  giving  up  to  South  Carolina  the  forts  at  Charleston. 
Edwin  M.  Stanton,  attorney -general,  told  Mr.  Buchanan  he 
had  no  right  to  do  it ;  that  it  would  be  treason  to  the  United 
States.  Buchanan's  government  was  full  of  treason ;  Washing- 
ton was  a  hot-bed  of  treason.  All  through  the  north  were 
sympathizers  with  southern  traitors  who  had  done  much  to  mis- 
lead them  concerning  the  true  public  sentiment  of  the  north. 
Madness  and  wickedness  ruled  the  hour.  Secession  and  the 
Southern  Confederacy  became  accomplished  facts  under  Mr. 
Buchanan,  and  by  the  aid  of  his  partisans  in  the  north.  The 
whole  south  was  seething  with  disloyalty  and  secession.  Never 
were  so  many  well-meaning  people  blindly  led  into  ruin  by  fire- 
eating  and  selfish  leaders.  Virtue  had  set  down  in  the  lap  of 
vice ;  the  milk  of  human  kindness  had  soured  in  Christian 
bosoms;  wisdom  had  lost  its  brains,  and  patriotism  its  heart, 
all  over  the  volcanic  secession  realm. 

On  the  eleventh  of  February  Mr.  Lincoln  started  for  Wash- 
ington. At  the  depot  he  made  this  farewell  address  to  his 
neighbors  :  "My  friends,  no  one  not  in  my  position  can  appre- 
ciate the  sadness  that  I  feel  at  this  parting.  To  this  people  I 
owe  all  that  I  am.  Here  I  have  lived  for  more  than  a  quarter 
of  a  century.  Here  my  children  were  born,  and  here  one  of 
them  lies  buried.  I  know  not  how  soon  I  shall  see  you  again. 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN.  399 

A  duty  devolves  upon  me  which  is  greater,  perhaps,  than  that 
which  has  devolved  upon  any  other  man  since  the  days  of 
Washington.  He  never  would  have  succeeded  except  for  the  aid 
of  divine  providence,  upon  which  he  at  all  times  relied.  I  feel 
that  I  cannot  succeed  without  the  same  divine  aid  which  sus- 
tained him,  and  on  the  same  Almighty  Being  I  place  my 
reliance  for  support,  and  I  hope  you,  my  friends,  will  pray  that 
I  may  receive  that  divine  assistance  without  which  I  cannot 
succeed,  but  with  which  success  is  certain.  I  bid  you  all  an 
affectionate  farewell." 

All  the  cities  through  which  he  passed,  gave  him  great 
receptions.  When  he  reached  Philadelphia  the  plot  against  his 
life  had  become  well  understood,  by  the  detective  who  for  many 
days  had  been  in  search  of  it,  and  it  was  arranged  that  he  should 
go  to  Washington  in  a  sleeping  car  some  two  or  three  days 
before  his  family  and  traveling  friends,  which  he  did  in  quiet 
and  safety.  It  was  not  true  as  reported,  that  lie  went  concealed 
in  a  cloak  and  Scotch  cap. 

He  went  where  he  was  not  wanted;  probably  four  out  of 
every  five  persons  in  Washington,  wishing  he  could  not  get  there. 

MR.    LINCOLN   PRESIDENT. 

On  the  fourth  of  March,  1861,  Mr.  Lincoln  was  inaugurated 
president.  His  inaugural  address  was  conciliatory  and  assuring 
to  the  south.  Had  it  been  well  read  and  considered  in  the 
south,  there  would  have  been  no  more  trouble.  It  was  rational, 
constitutional,  humane,  patriotic. 

He  appointed  William  H.  Seward,  his  great  republican  com- 
petitor, as  his  secretary.  Other  great  men  were  put  into  his 
cabinet.  He  acted  with  the  greatest  prudence  and  conciliation. 
Only  seven  states  had  declared  for  secession.  It  would  be 
impossible  for  them  to  run  a  government  unless  more  joined 
them.  There  were  fifteen  slave  states.  It  was  his  policy  to  save 
the  other  eight  slave  states  to  the  union  if  possible.  All  his 
earlier  efforts  were  made  to  retain  the  border  states.  There 
was  great  wisdom  in  this.  It  kept  the  war,  when  it  came,  mainly 
in  the  slave  states.  It  was  his  effort,  also,  to  do  nothing  which 


400  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

the  red-hot  seceders  could  construe  into  an  act  of  war.  He 
repaired  forts,  furnished  arms,  and  put  defenses  in  order  with 
the  utmost  quiet.  In  every  way  he  dealt  patiently  and  tenderly 
with  the  eratic  sisters.  But  when  the  suppressed  secession  rage 
could  be  no  longer  restrained,  it  burst  out,  in  the  onslaught 
upon  Fort  Sumpter.  Now,  war  was  begun  by  the  seceders;  aud 
the  poor,  misled  people  of  the  south  shouted  for  joy.  How 
little  they  knew  what  they  were  doing.  They  had  followed 
their  blind  leaders  to  an  awful  precipice,  and  now  were  clamorous 
to  jump  off.  That  cannon  boom  which  so  elated  the  south, 
filled  the  north  with  inexpressible  sorrow.  In  that  sorrow  was 
pity  for  the  misled  southern  people,  patriotism  for  their  endan- 
gered country,  and  indignation  for  the  traitor  leaders. 

At  once  the  thinking  and  loyal  people  of  the  north  felt  sure, 
that  the  first  ball  that  struck  Fort  Sumpter,  struck  with,  a 
greater  force  the  chain  of  the  slave.  Many  in  the  north  wel- 
comed it  as  the  quickest  way  out  of  the  slavery  iniquity;  yet 
with  a  great  pain  they  turned  away  from  their  peaceful  employ- 
ments to  go  south  and  punish  the  traitors  for  their  treason.  In 
the  north  there  were  two  great  ruling  ideas, —  we  will  save  the 
country  and  destroy  slavery.  Yet  always  there  was  a  good 
feeling  for  the  southern  people.  Mr.  Lincoln  soon  found  that 
the  ears  abroad  had  been  tampered  with;  that  Mr.  Buchanan's 
foreign  ministers  had  poisoned  public  sentiment  abroad  and 
secured  southern  sympathy  almost  everywhere.  He  found,  too, 
that  the  northern  forts  and  arsenals  had  been  robbed  of  arms 
and  amunitions,  which  had  been  carried  south;  that  President 
Buchanan's  administration,  had  in  many  ways  been  an  adminis- 
tration of  secession  and  rebellion. 

All  these  things  taught  Mr.  Lincoln  tamove  with  prudence, 
and  to  move  very  slowly, —  to  wait  till  the  people  could  learn  all 
the  facts  and  become  thoroughly  united  and  aroused  in  their 
opposition  to  rebellion.  Many  of  his  friends  found  fault  with 
him  for  his  good  nature  toward  the  south;  and  for  his  tardy 
and  weak  movements  in  resisting  rebellion. 

At  half-past  four  o'clock  A.M.,  April  12,  1861,  the  rebel 
batteries  opened  on  Fort  Sumpter.  April  15,  Mr.  Lincoln 


ABBAHAM   LINCOLN.  401 

issued  his  call  for  seventy-five  thousand  men.  The  writer  of 
this  sketch  was  then  pastor  of  a  church  in  Lawrence,  Massa- 
chusetts. The  sixth  regiment  of  the  Massachusetts  militia  had 
its  headquarters  there,  though  some  of  its  companies  were  in 
towns  twenty  miles  away.  Colonel  Watson,  who  commanded  it, 
received  the  call  for  his  regiment  at  five  o'clock  P.M.  The  next 
morning  at  7:30  o'clock  the  whole  regiment  were  at  the  depot  at 
Lawrence,  and  took  the  cars  for  Washington.  Its  way  to 
Washington  was  an  ovation,  except  at  Baltimore,  where  it  was 
met  by  a  rebel  mob  and  four  of  its  members  killed.  The  first 
to  fall  was  Sumner  H.  Needham,  a  member  of  the  writer's  con- 
gregation. His  body  was  sent  back,  and  early  the  next  week 
the  first  funeral  services  occasioned  by  the  war  Avere  held  in  his 
honor,  his  pastor  preaching  the  sermon,  and  the  other  clergy- 
men of  the  city  taking  part  in  the  services.  The  text  was  from 
Heb.  xi.,4,  "He  being  dead  yet  speaketh."  "He  speaks,"  said 
his  pastor,  "from  that  scene  of  conflict  with  a  silent  yet  terrible 
eloquence  which  is  heard  all  over  our  great  country,  and  which 
stirs  the  moral  indignation  of  twenty  millions  of  freemen  at 
home  and  ten  times  that  number  abroad.  That  blow  that  broke 
in  upon  his  brain  struck  upon  the  conscience  of  a  nation.  That 
wound  has  a  tongue  speaking  with  a  trumpet  of  thunder  among 
the  northern  hills  and  on  the  western  prairies."  And  it  did 
speak,  and  freemen  answered  in  quick  response  to  the  full 
number  of  the  call. 

The  others  who  fell  in  Baltimore  were  Charles  A.  Taylor,  a 
stranger,  who  enlisted  in  Boston;  Luther  C.  Ladd  and  Addison 
0.  Whiting,  of  Lowell,  Massachusetts. 

The  spirit  of  this  regiment  was  the  spirit  of  the  north.  The 
death  of  these  men  was  the  death  of  four  brothers,  which  called 
the  whole  family  to  sorrow  and  self-defense. 

The  night  before  Mr.  Lincoln  made  this  call,  Mr.  Douglas, 
at  the  instance  of  Mr.  Ashman,  of  Massachusetts,  seconded  by 
Mrs.  Douglas,  called  upon  Mr.  Lincoln  and  assured  him  of  his 
sympathy  and  cooperation.  Mr.  Lincoln  read  him  the  call, 
which  he  had  just  written.  He  approved  it  heartily,  only  he 
said  it  should  be  for  two  hundred  thousand  instead  of  seventy- 
26 


402  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

five  thousand.  The  next  morning  a  dispatch  went  with  the  call 
assuring  the  country  of  Mr.  Douglas'  approval.  Thence  onward 
till  Mr.  Douglas'  death  he  cooperated  with  Mr.  Lincoln. 

On  the  seventeenth  of  April  Virginia  seceded.  North 
Carolina,  Tennessee  and  Arkansas  soon  followed. 

In  July  the  battle  of  Bull  Run  was  fought,  which  proved  a 
rout  of  the  Union  army,  and  was  misleading  to  the  rebels  in 
suggesting  to  them  that  they  had  not  an  equal  foe  in  the  soldiers 
of  the  north.  This  mistake  led  ultimately  to  a  more  complete 
destruction  of  the  south,  as  it  continued  the  war  so  long.  Over 
confidence  was  the  weakness  of  the  rebel  cause  in  the  beginning. 
It  held  them  to  their  evil  work  till  the  south  was  a  wreck,  while 
the  north  was  steadily  growing  in  numbers  and  wealth. 

An  extra  session  of  Congress  was  called,  and  the  president 
was  authorized  to  call  out  half  a  million  of  soldiers  and  use  five 
hundred  millions  of  dollars.  This  meant  the  preservation 
of  the  Union. 

The  first  thing  the  north  had  to  do  was  to  organize  and 
drill  its  army.  It  was  nearly  two  years  before  this  was  com- 
pletely done.  Many  officers  had  to  be  tested.  During  this 
period  many  reverses  came  to  the  Union  cause.  But  all  the 
time  Mr.  Lincoln  was  growing  in  public  estimation  and  endear- 
ing himself  to  the  people  as  the  preserver  of  that  country  of 
which  Washington  was  the  father.  And  all  the  time  the  patri- 
otism of  the  loyal  people  was  developing  into  a  great  and  perma- 
nent passion,  which  was  willing  to  make  all  sacrifices  for  the 
national  honor  and  cause. 

During  this  most  trying  time  of  the  warx  France  and  Eng- 
land, to  their  great  disgrace,  gave  sympathy  and  aid  to  the 
rebellion  and  the  war  for  slavery.  It  was  a  wicked  and  cruel 
support  of  barbarity  and  crime,  done  in  the  greed  of  gain  and 
the  desire  to  see  the  United  States  broken  to  pieces  in  the  hope 
that  they  might  gather  up  the  fragments.  Slow  will  the  people 
of  the  north  be  to  forget  this  cruel  affiliation  with  rebellion 
and  repudiation  of  all  just  principles  of  inter-national  honor 
and  fraternity. 

Through  all  the  earlier  period  of  the  war,  Mr.  Lincoln  toon. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  403 

all  possible  pains  to  express  his  kindly  feeling  to  the  people  of 
the  south,  and  that  he  had  no  purpose  of  destroying  slavery  if  it 
could  be  avoided.  He  had  taken  his  oath  to  maintain  the  con- 
stitution. If  it  could  be  done,  he  was  resolved  on  doing  it.  If 
the  constitution  could  not  be  preserved,  then  he  would  let  that 
go  and  save  the  nation. 

Many  of  his  friends  were  greatly  tried  that  he  would  make 
no  movement  against  slavery.  It  was  quite  a  common  feeling 
among  them  that  it  was  impossible  to  preserve  the  Union  and 
slavery.  The  old  abolitionists  did  not  think  it  desirable  to  pre- 
serve the  Union  with  slavery  in  it.  Many  sympathized  with 
them.  But  Mr.  Lincoln  had  studied  prayerfully  his  duty  as  a 
president  sworn  to  obey  the  constitution.  His  conclusion  was, 
that  as  a  military  necessity  and  a  last  resort,  he  could  and  must 
destroy  slavery.  So  he  said  in  a  letter  to  a  friend:  "When  early 
in  the  war  General  Fremont  attempted  military  emancipation, 
I  forbade  it  because  I  did  not  then  think  it  an  indispensable 
necessity.  When,  a  little  later,  General  Cameron,  then  secre- 
tary of  war,  suggested  the  arming  of  the  blacks,  I  objected 
because  I  did  not  then  think  it  an  indispensable  necessity. 
When,  a  little  later,  General  Hunter  attempted  military  emanci- 
pation, I  again  forbade  it,  because  I  did  not  yet  think  the  indis- 
pensable necessity  had  come.  When  in  March  and  May  and 
July,  1862,  I  made  earnest  and  successive  appeals  to  the  border 
states  to  favor  compensated  emancipation,  I  believed  the  indis- 
pensable necessity  for  military  emancipation  and  arming  the 
blacks  would  come  unless  averted  by  that  measure.  They 
declined  the  proposition;  and  I  was,  in  my  best  judgment, 
driven  to  the  alternative  of  either  surrendering  the  Union,  and 
with  it  the  constitution,  or  of  laying  a  strong  hand  upon  the 
colored  element.  I  chose  the  latter." 

When  urged  to  emancipate  the  slaves,  by  a  body  of  clergymen, 
he  said:  "Whatever  shall  appear  to  be  God's  will  I  will  do." 

In  the  middle  of  the  summer  of  1862,  when  things  appeared 
to  be  going  badly  enough,  he  concluded  that  he  must  "change 
his  tactics  or  lose  his  game."  So  he  set  about  preparing  an 
emancipation  proclamation.  About  the  first  of  August,  he 


404  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

called  a  cabinet  meeting.  None  knew  what  they  came  for.  He 
told  them  that  he  had  called  them  to  read  to  them  a  proclama- 
tion he  had  resolved  to  make,  and  ask  them  to  criticise  it.  Mr. 
Chase  "wished  the  language  were  stronger."  Mr.  Blair  depre- 
cated the  policy.  Mr.  Seward  approved,  but  did  not  think  this 
the  opportune  time,  and  gave  his  reasons.  So  it  waited  yet 
longer.  Before  they  separated,  he  said  in  a  low,  solemn  voice. 
"I  have  promised  my  God  that  I  will  do  it."  Mr.  Chase,  who 
was  near  him,  asked  if  he  understood  him.  He  replied,  "1 
made  a  solemn  vow  before  God,  that  if  General  Lee  should  be 
driven  back  from  Pennsylvania,  I  would  crown  the  result  by  a 
declaration  of  freedom  to  the  slaves." 

So  September  22,  1862,  the  proclamation  was  issued,  to  take 
effect  January  1,  18G3.  After  it  was  done  he  said:  "What  I 
did,  I  did  after  a  very  full  deliberation,  and  under  a  heavy  and 
solemn  sense  of  responsibility.  I  can  only  trust  in  God  I  have 
made  no  mistake."  Two  years  later,  he  said:  "As  affairs  have 
turned,  it  is  the  central  act  of  my  administration,  and  the  great 
event  of  the  nineteenth  century." 

After  this  proclamation,  the  cause  of  the  Union  began  to 
mend.  Within  a  year  a  hundred  thousand  colored  men  were 
openly  allied  with  the  army  and  the  cause,  and  over  half  of 
them  carrying  muskets.  Victory  became  assured;  it  was  only  a 
question  of  time.  Money  and  men,  and  ability  and  loyalty  in 
the  leaders  and  commanders,  were  now  abundant. 

In  due  time  Mr.  Lincoln  Avas  re-elected,  and  from  that  time 
on  the  tide  of  sentiment  and  events  was  more  and  more  assured 
in  his  behalf.  The  war  became  a  succession  of  triumphant 
victories.  At  his  recommendation,  Congress  passed  an  amend- 
ment to  the  constitution  abolishing  slavery  in  the  United  States. 
His  great  generals,  Grant,  Sherman  and  Sheridan,  now  had 
everything  well  in  hand.  The  surrender  of  General  Lee  soon 
folloAved,  which  put  an  end  to  the  great  rebellion. 

But  in  this  giddy  moment  of  glory,  when  the  whole  loyal 
north  were  praising  him,  he  was  stealthily  approached  by  John 
Wilkes  Booth,  at  a  theatre,  where  he  had  gone  wi^i  his  family, 
to  forget  for  an  hour  his  burdening  cares,  and  shot  in  the  back 


ABKAHAM   LINCOLN.  405 

and  side  of  his  head.  It  was  a  fatal  wound.  He  lived  in  a 
state  of  unconsciousness  till  morning,  and  at  twenty-two  minutes 
past  seven  o'clock,  April  15,  1865,  breathed  his  last. 

The  nation  which  yesterday  was  jubilant  with  an  abounding 
joy,  was  now  in  tears.  Oh  that  terrible  day!  How  our  lips 
were  struck  dumb,  and  our  hearts  were  palsied !  Never  such  a 
day  in  America!  So  the  rebellion  ended  in  the  martyrdom  of 
the  grandest  soul  of  the  nation  he  had  saved.  How  he  loved 
his  country  and  kind!  How  he  loved  the  people  of  the  south 
who  would  not  then  accept  his  love,  but  have  since  learned  that 
it  was  sincere,  wise  and  noble.  What  blessings  have  come  to  his 
country  and  to  humanity  and  especially  to  the  redeemed  south, 
by  his  greatj  honest,  hearty  life! 


f  HE  (|RAVE  OF  ABRAHAM  HINCOLN. 

What  was  mortal  of  the  great  and  good  martyr  president 
rests  in  Oak  Ixidge  cemetery,  Springfield,  Illinois,  about  two 
miles  out  from  the  city.  The  tomb  in  which  his  body  reposes 
is  in  the  base  of  the  National  Lincoln  monument,  which  is  one 
of  the  finest  in  this  country.  The  base  on  which  the  obelisk 
rests  is  seventy-two  feet  six  inches  square,  with  a  projection  in 
front  and  rear  for  the  catacomb  and  memorial  hall,  making  a 
length  of  one  hundred  and  nineteen  feet,  six  inches.  The  height 
of  the  base  from  the  terrace  at  the  bottom,  is  fifteen  feet  and  ten 
inches.  Around  the  top  of  the  base  is  a  rich,  strong  railing.  A 
finely  wrought  pedestal,  twenty-eight  feet  four  inches  across,  with 
four  elegant  pieces  of  bronze  statuary  at  the  corners,  sustains 
the  obelisk.  The  obelisk  is  square,  eighty-two  feet  and  six 
inches  high  from  the  base.  The  statue  of  Lincoln  stands  in 
front  of  the  obelisk  on  a  separate  pedestal,  and  is  eleven  feet  in 
height,  and  stands  thirty-five  feet  and  six  inches  above  the  ter- 
race. The  whole  height  from  the  terrace  to  the  apex  of  the 
obelisk  is  ninety-eight  feet  and  four  and  a  half  inches.  The 
statue  holds  in  its  right  hand  an  open  scroll  representing  the 


406  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

V 

Proclamation  of  Emancipation.  The  whole  cost  of  the  monu- 
ment, statuary,  statue  and  coat  of  arms,  was  two  hundred  and 
six  thousand  five  hundred  and  fifty  dollars.  It  is  a  fitting 
monument  to  the  great  emancipator. 

The  tomb  is  in  the  catacomb  which  is  in  the  front  projection 
of  the  base.  The  body  is  enclosed  in  an  air-tight  lead  case. 
This  is  in  a  sarcophagus;  and  this  in  a  strong  vault.  An 
attempt  was  made  some  years  ago  to  disturb,  perhaps  to  steal, 
the  body  of  the  martyred  president.  When  it  was  discovered, 
an  end  of  the  sarcophagus  had  been  broken  off  and  an  opening 
made  in  to  the  lead  coffin,  but  being  discovered  before  any 
further  damage  was  done,  the  broken  place  was  repaired,  further 
securities  adopted,  and  greater  precautions  instituted,  so  that 
no  further  attempts  have  been  made  upon  the  security  and 
sacredness  of  the  place. 

Under  the  pedestal  on  which  the  statue  of  the  president 
stands,  is  the  simple  inscription: 


Around  the  large  pedestal  that  sustains  the  obelisk,  on  small 
shield-like  projections,  are  the  abreviations  of  the  several  states. 
The  top  of  the  base  and  the  platform  around  the  pedestal  of  the 
obelisk  is  reached  by  two  flights  of  steps  of  twenty-four  steps 
each,  with  heavy  railings  and  pilasters.  These  are  on  either 
side  of  the  catecomb.  It  must  be  seen  to  be  appreciated. 


CHAPTER  XVIH. 


ANDKEW  JOHNSON. 

SEVENTEENTH  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATER 


ANCESTRY. 

attempting  to  write  of  the  ancestry  of  Andrew  Joh2- 
son,  we  are  met  at  once  by  that  sadly  expressive  term 
•'poor  whites/'  so  common  and  so  well  understood  ii 
the  old  days  of  the  south.  Poor  indeed  was  his  father, 
Jacob  Johnson,  whose  employments  were  city  constable, 
sexton  and  porter  of  a  bank.  He  lost  his  life  in  attempt- 
ing to  save  a  man  from  drowning  in  1812.  But  this  humble 
origin  is  no  discredit  to  him  in  American  society,  while  the  fact 
that  he  was  born  at  the  bottom  and  rose  by  his  own  force  to  the 
top,  is  one  of  the  common  things  that  glorifies  our  political 
institutions.  Such  instances  as  Jackson,  Johnson,  Lincoln. 
Garfield,  no  American  recurs  to  but  with  pride.  In' no  other 
country  in  the  world  can  they  so  often  occur.  Parents  are  of ter 
best  known  by  their  children,  and  we  may  reasonably  infer  from 
these  men  the  qualities  and  powers  which  existed  in  their  ances- 
try unseen.  Beneath  common  soils  there  are  often  precious  ores. 

CHILDHOOD    AND    YOUTH. 

Andrew  Johnson  was  born  in  Raleigh,  North  Carolina, 
December  29,  1808.  His  father  died  when  he  was  four  years 
old.  His  childhood  was  subject  to  the  hardships  of  the  poor  and 


408  OUR    PRESIDENTS. 

fatherless  in  that  section  of  the  country.  How  he  got  up  to  ten 
years  old  his  biographers  do  not  say,  but  we  must  suppose  that 
such  a  mother  as  Andrew  Johnson  must  have  had,  found  a  way 
to  care  for  him.  At  that  age  he  was  put  to  service  with  a 
tailor  by  the  name  of  Shelby.  While  at  work  in  this  man's  shop 
learning  his  trade,  a  neighbor  who  was  fond  of  reading  used  to 
go  in  and  read  to  the  workmen  from  the  "American  Speaker." 
Andrew  was  an  interested  listener.  That  book  became  to  him 
a  wonder.  He  craved  it  for  his  own,  but  he  knew  it  would 
reveal  none  of  its  secrets  to  him  till  he  should  learn  to  read.  So 
he  at  once  set  about  learning  his  letters,  and  then  to  spell  and 
read.  He  became  an  industrious  student  in  all  his  odd  hours 
from  work.  He  had  an  object  to  study  for — to  read  that  book 
for  himself,  and  as  soon  as  he  could  read,  became  an  earnest 
reader  of  such  books  as  he  could  get. 

When  he  was  about  sixteen  years  old  he  got  into  trouble  by 
throwing  stones  at  an  old  woman's  house,  and  started  at  once 
for  unknown  parts.  He  found  his  way  to  Laurens  Court  House, 
South  Carolina,  where  he  procured  work  ai  his  trade.  Two 
years  after  he  returned  to  Raleigh,  and  learned  that  Mr.  Shelby 
had  moved  twenty  miles  into  the  country.  On  foot  he  sought 
and  found  him.  He  made  all  due  apologies  for  his  unceremoni- 
ous departure  two  years  before,  and  desired  to  go  to  work  again 
for  Mr.  Shelby.  But  he  demanded  security  for  his  faithfulness, 
which  Andrew  could  not  give,  and  so,  heavy-hearted,  he  had  to 
look  the  world  in  the  face,  which  had  no  home  and  but  little 
encouragement  for  him. 

In  September,  1826,  he  went  to  Tennessee  and  took  his 
mother  with  him.  He  found  work  at  Greenville.  During  his 
first  year  there,  with  the  courage  of  youth  lie  took  a  wife  to 
help  him  enjoy  his  poverty.  Having  married,  he  went  west  to 
find  a  place  to  make  his  fortune.  After  a  fruitless  search  of 
several  months,  he  returned  to  Greenville  and  went  to  work  at 
hie  trade. 

He  was  fortunate  in  his  marriage  in  this,  that  he  found  a 
teacher  in  his  wife  of  whom  he  was  glad  to  learn.  The  differ- 
ence between  him  and  most  men  is  that  they  accept  with  ill 


ANDREW   JOHNSON.  409 

grace  the  good  lessons  of  their  wives,  while  he  gladly  and  teach- 
ably  learned  of  his  really  wiser  and  "better  half."  She  was  a 
fair  scholar  and  taught  him  writing  and  arithmetic,  and  stimu- 
lated him  to  the  acquisition  of  further  knowledge. 

EARLY   MANHOOD. 

Mr.  Johnson's  studious  habits  soon  gave  him  information 
and  mental  activity  above  his  associates,  and  began  to  make  him 
conspicuous  as  a  leader  of  opinions  and  in  conversation.  He 
began  to  be  a  center  around  which  clustered  his  class.  He  had 
a  turn  for  politics  in  a  local  way,  and  organized  a  working- 
men's  party  in  opposition  to  the  aristocratic  element  which,  in 
the  main,  managed  the  politics  in  those  parts.  His  new  party 
elected  him  an  alderman.  He  was  re-elected  for  two  successive 
years ;  and  the  next  year  was  elected  mayor.  During  these 
years  he  was  active  in  a  debating  society  composed  of  the  young 
men  of  the  place  and  college.  One  of  the  students  of  the 
college  at  that  time  later  in  life  described  his  house  as  being  in 
the  outskirts  of  the  village,  about  ten  feet  square,  with  a  tailor's 
bench  in  one  corner,  and  Avith  but  little  furniture.  The  students 
often  called  to  see  him,  because  he  welcomed  them  with  hearti- 
ness and  entertained  them  with  his  spirited  conversation. 
Probably  on  account  of  his  influence  with  the  students  he  was 
appointed  by  the  court  a  trustee  of  the  Khea  academy.  About 
this  time  he  was  active  in  behalf  of  a  new  constitution  for 
the  state. 

In  the  summer  of  1835  he  offered  himself  a  candidate  for  the 
lower  house  of  the  legislature,  and  took  the  field  for  his  own 
election,  claiming  to  be  a  democrat.  At  first  he  was  coolly 
received  by  the  leaders,  but  he  made  his  canvass  so  intelligent 
and  vigorous  that  he  not  only  won  his  way  to  their  confidence, 
but  to  an  election.  At  ten  he  could  not  read;  at  tMrenty  could 
read  only;  at  twenty-one  he  married  and  began  to  learn  writing 
and  arithmetic;  at  twenty-seven  he  was  a  member  of  the  state 
legislature,  and  yet  earned  his  living  all  this  time  on  the  tailor's 
bench. 


410  OUR    PRESIDENTS. 


JOHNSON  A   LEGISLATOR. 

Mr.  Johnson  took  his  seat  as  a  legislator,  and  very  soon 
made  himself  conspicuous  as  a  resolute  opponent  of  the  principal 
measure  of  the  session,  which  was  a  plan  to  institute  a  system  of 
internal  improvement  in  the  way  of  road  making  and  macadam- 
izing, which  was  to  involve  the  state  in  a  debt  of  four  millions 
of  dollars.  He  predicted  disaster  to  the  scheme  if  it  was 
attempted.  The  plan  was  adopted  and  all  the  disasters  came, 
with  but  little  benefit.  In  1839,  he  was  re-elected  to  the  legisla- 
ture. In  1840,  he  took  an  active  part  in  the  canvass  for  Van 
Buren,  making  speeches  in  all  parts  of  the  state.  He  was  made 
elector  at  large  and  voted  for  Van  Buren.  In  1841,  he  was 
elected  to  the  State  Senate,  into  which  he  introduced  measures 
for  a  number  of  moderate  improvements  in  the  eastern  part  of 
the  state. 

In  1843,  he  was  elected  to  the  Lower  House  of  Congress,  and 
held  his  place  by  successive  re-elections  for  ten  years.  He  was 
elected  as  a  democrat,  and  sustained  in  the  main,  the  measures 
of  the  democrats  during  that  time.  He  at  length  became  a  slave 
bolder,  though  he  thought  slavery  would  ultimately  be  abol- 
ished. Though  reared  in  poverty,  he  seemed  to  have  no  strong 
repugnance  to  slavery,  or  strong  convictions  against  it.  When 
the  rebellion  broke  out  and  he  took  the  Union  side,  the  confed- 
erates confiscated  his  seven  or  eight  slaves.  He  had  but  a 
superficial  view  of  slavery,  as  he  had  of  politics  generally.  He 
was  essentially  a  southern  man,  with  southern  principles,  till  he 
declared  for  the  Union.  He  had  gratitude  enough  to  realize 
what  the  Union  had  done  for  him,  and  to  be  faithful  to  it. 

In  1848,  he  made  an  elaborate  argument  in  favor  of  the  veto 
power. 

In  1853,  he  was  elected  governor  of  Tennessee;  and  at  the 
next  election  re-elected.  The  excitement  at  these  elections  was 
great,  and  his  life  was  threatened.  He  spoke  sometimes  with  a 
revolver  on  the  table  and  his  hand  on  it.  On  one  occasion  he 
proposed  that  those  who  had  threatened  should  do  the  shooting 
first.  As  nobody  shot,  he  proceeded. 


ANDREW   JOHNSON.  411 

» 

In  December,  1857,  he  took  his  seat  in  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States,  to  which  he  had  been  elected  by  his  state  legisla- 
ture. In  the  Senate  his  course  was  much  as  it  had  been  in  the 
House — democratic,  southern.  In  the  House  he  had  made  himself 
conspicuous  by  advocating  a  homestead  bill  giving  one  hundred 
and  sixty  acres  of  the  public  lands  to  actual  settlers  thereon. 
He  took  up  this  again  in  the  Senate  and  carried  it  through,  only 
to  have  it  defeated  by  President  Buchanan.  In  this  he  acted 
out  of  his  better  nature,  and  not  in  sympathy  with  the 
pro-slavery  policy  of  his  party. 

He  fought  vigorously  for  economy  in  the  management  of 
the  national  finances,  and  opposed  the  Pacific  railroad  scheme. 
He  opposed  the  compromise  measures  of  1850,  yet  voted  for 
them  in  the  end. 

In  the  Charleston-Baltimore  convention  of  1860  he  was 
proposed  by  the  Tennessee  delegation  as  a  candidate  for  the 
presidency.  In  the  contest  which  followed  with  four  candidates 
he  sustained  Breckenridge;  the  extreme  southern  candidate. 
His  associates  had,  in  the  main,  been  with  the  radical  pro- 
slavery  men.  He  was  trained  in  their  school ;  bought  slaves  to 
be  one  of  them;  desired  to  nationalize  slavery,  and  hated  black 
republicanism.  Such  moral  notions  as  he  had  were  based  in  the 
pro-slavery  code;  and  when  the  question  of  secession  came,  he 
maintained  the  Union,  largely  on  the  ground  that  the  battle  for 
slavery  could  best  be  fought,  as  he  said,  "under  the  battlements 
of  the  constitution."  He  presented  strongly  the  right  of  the 
Union  to  New  Mexico,  Texas,  Louisiana  and  Florida  and  the 
great  river  courses  of  the  west,  by  purchase  and  conquest.  He 
said  :  "I  am  opposed  to  secession.  I  believe  it  no  remedy  for 
the  evils  complained  of.  Instead  of  acting  with  that  division  of 
my  southern  friends  who  take  ground  for  secession,  I  shall  take 
other  grounds,  tvhile  I  try  to  accomplish  the  same  end.  I  think 
that  this  battle  ought  to  be  fought,  not  outside,  but  inside,  the 
Union."  Being  of  them,  and  because  he  would  not  go  out  with 
them,  the  secessionists  made  war  upon  him,  burned  him  in 
effigy,  insulted  him  with  mobs,  threatened  him  with  lynching, 
sacked  his  home,  drove  his  sick  wife  and  children  into  the 


412  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

streets,  stole  his  slaves,  which  he  called  property,  and  turned 
his  house  into  a  receptacle  for  secession  soldiery.  But  all  this 
only  made  him  more  resolute  for  the  Union,  and  he  took  the 
high  ground  that  secession  was  treason.  He  said  in  the  Senate, 
March  2,  1861:  "Were  I  the  president  of  the  United  States, 
I  would  do  as  Thomas  Jefferson  did  in  1806  with  Aaron  Burr:  I 
would  have  them  arrested  and  try  them  for  treason,  and  if  con- 
victed, by  the  eternal  God,  they  should  suffer  the  penalty  of  the 
law  at  the  hands  of  the  executioner !  Sir,  treason  must  be 
punished.  Its  enormity  and  the  extent  and  depth  of  the  offense 
must  be  made  known."  In  a  speech  at  Cincinnati  he  said  :  "I 
repeat,  this  odious  doctrine  of  secession  should  be  crushed  out, 
destroyed  and  totally  annihilated.  No  government  can  stand, 
no  religious,  or  moral,  or  social  organization  can  stand,  where 
this  doctrine  is  tolerated.  It  is  disintegration ;  it  is  universal 
dissolution." 

MILITARY   GOVERNOR. 

In  February,  1862,  the  Union  forces  got  possession  of  the 
middle  and  western  portion  of  Tennessee,  and  President  Lincoln 
appointed  Mr.  Johnson  military  governor  of  the  state.  He  had 
twice  before  been  civil  governor  of  the  state,  now  he  was  governor 
by  a  northern  appointment,  the  most  offensive  that  could  be,  to 
the  secession  portion  of  the  south.  A  great  deal  was  said  about 
a  "solid  south,"  but  probably  there  never,  was  a  solid  south. 
Many  were  always  Union  people,  and  were  taken  out  against 
their  wills.  No  doubt  many  loyal  Tennesseeans  welcomed  their 
old  governor,  as  a  representative  of  the  Union.  He  held  a 
difficult  post  of  duty  with  great  resolution,  often  terribly  tried 
by  halting,  and  half  Union  men  and  fierce  rebels.  His  head- 
quarters were  at  Nashville,  which  was  for  a  considerable  time 
under  seige  and  doubtful  of  the  result.  He  had  difficulties  with 
the  civil  authorities,  some  of  whom  he  had  to  displace  and  put 
in  others;  difficulties  with  Union  generals,  who  seemed  to  him 
half-hearted  in  their  work;  difficulties  with  the  rebel  and  half 
Union  citizens:  but  they  all  tended  to  carry  him  in  sympathy 
and  opinion  nearer  to  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  separate  him  more  and 


A.NDKEW   JOHNSON.  413 

more  from  his  old  opinions  and  life.  Slavery  began  to  look  like 
an  abominable  thing. 

In  the  Autumn  of  1863,  Mr.  Johnson  visited  Washington  to 
consult  with  the  president  about  re-establishing  a  civil  govern- 
ment in  Tennessee.  The  visit  brought  him  nearer  to  Mr.  Lin- 
coln and  his  views.  It  soon  became  apparent  to  him  that  the 
active  Union  and  the  republican  party  were  identical,  and  so  far 
as  the  broken  Union  was  to  be  restored  it  must  be  done  by  the 
pariy  in  power. 

His  prompt  and  decisive  treatment  of  the  difficulties  in  his 
state  won  him  the  admiration  of  the  loyal  north,  and  before 
Mr.  Lincoln's  first  term  closed  he  felt  himself  in  close  sympathy 
with  the  adminstration. 

MR.    JOHNSON  VICE-PRESIDENT. 

The  republican  convention  of  1864,  met  in  Baltimore, 
June  G,  to  nominate  a  president  and  vice-president.  Mr.  Lincoln 
was  renominated  without  a  thought  of  another,  with  Andrew 
Johnson  for  his  vice-president.  The  sympathy  which  the 
loyal  north  felt  for  southern  Unionists  had  much  to  do  with 
this.  The  brave  stand  Mr.  Johnson  took  for  the  Union  and  for 
the  return  of  his  state  was  regarded  with  great  favor.  His 
speeches,  electric  with  patriotism,  and  stalwart  with  solid 
argument,  were  read  all  over  the  north  with  enthusiasm.  His 
orders  as  military  governor,  his  reorganization  of  a  government 
in  Tennessee,  had  prepared  the  way  for  his  nomination.  His 
past  democracy  was  forgotten.  By  this  time  the  Union  cause 
was  nobly  sustained  by  multitudes  of  northern  democrats  who 
welcomed  this  nomination. 

Mr.  Johnson  welcomed  at  once  the  inevitable  result  of  the 
war,  the  death  of  slavery.  He  foresaw  it,  and  all  the  terrible 
consequences  of  the  war  to  the  south  and  tried  to  stay  it,  but 
could  not.  When  he  found  that  slavery  was  ended  he  was  glad, 
though  he  sorrowed  over  the  great  cost  of  its  death. 

When  the  news  of  Mr.  Johnson's  nomination  reached  Nash- 
ville, a  great  mass  meeting  was  called  to  ratify  the  nomination, 
and  Mr.  Johnson  was  invited  to  address  it.  The  speech  he  then 


414  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

made  was  one  of  the  great  speeches  of  that  great  period.  It  was 
a  powerful  presentation  of  the  underlying  principles  of  our 
government,  the  history  of  the  government,  the  history  of  the 
rebellion,  beginning  in  the  early  days  of  the  republic,  and  its 
failure,  and  the  permanent  prospect  for  our  institutions  with 
slavery,  their  great  antagonistic  principle,  out  of  the  way.  The 
enthusiasm  among  the  people,  white  and  black,  was  unbounded. 
Probably  nothing  surpassed  it  anywhere  in  the  country.  It  was 
much  like  Patrick  Henry's  great  speeches  in  the  early  days  of 
the  republic,  in  its  effects.  The  poor  colored  people,  when  he 
said,  "I,  Andrew  Johnson,  do  hereby  proclaim  freedom,  full, 
broad  and  unconditional,  to  every  man  in  Tennessee/'  gathered 
around  him  in  a  wild  frenzy  of  joy,  and  called  him  their  Moses. 
The  reports  of  this  great  speech  went  through  the  country  like 
an  electric  shock,  and  thrilled  the  loyal  people.  It  gave  a  great 
impetus  to  the  election  and  great  expectations  of  him.  It  was 
the  transcendent  moment  of  his  life.  He  was  governor  of  the 
state  which  he  had  just  restored  to  the  Union;  had  just  been 
nominated  to  the  vice-presidency;  three  thousand  people  had 
gathered  to  do  him  honor  and  were  electrified  by  his  magnificent 
utterances,  and  now  the  grateful  slaves  of  the  state  looked  up  to 
him  as  their  deliverer. 

The  canvass  proceeded;  he  was  triumphantly  elected,  with 
his  great  leader  —  the  savior  of  his  country,  and  was  inaugurated 
the  fourth  of  March,  1865.  The  rebellion  was  rapidly  going  to 
pieces.  General  Sherman  had  made  his  great  march  to  the  sea; 
the  Mississippi  valley  had  been  redeemed;  General  Grant  was 
soon  in  Kichmond;  Petersburg  was  in  his  hands;  and  his  army 
was  in  hot  pursuit  of  General  Lee.  April  3,  there  was  a  great 
meeting  in  Washington  to  rejoice  over  the  fall  of  Richmond  and 
Petersburg;  April  9,  General  Lee  surrendered  to  General  Grant; 
April  14,  President  Lincoln  was  shot,  and  died  the  next  morning. 

MR.    JOHNSON   PRESIDENT. 

Immediately  after  the  death  of  the  president,  the  attorney- 
general,  Honorable  James  Speed,  addressed  a  note  to  Vice- 


ANDREW   JOHNSON".  415 

President  Johnson,  informing  him  of  the  president's  death  and 
that  the  presidency  now  devolved  upon  him,  signed  by  the 
members  of  the  cabinet,  except  Mr.  Seward,  whose  life  had  been 
attempted.  At  ten  o'clock,  two  hours  and  a  half  after  the  death 
of  the  president,  Chief  Justice  Chase  administered  to  Mr. 
Johnson  the  oath  of  office. 

Soon  after,  he  was  publicly  inaugurated  in  the  Senate 
chamber  Under  circumstances- which  cast  a  still  deeper  sorrow 
over  the  afflicted  country.  He  was  just  recovering  from  a  fit  of 
sickness,  and  it  was  feared  he  would  be  unable  to  go  through 
the  ceremonies  of  inauguration.  To  brace  himself  for  the 
occasion  he  took  intoxicating  stimulants,  and  was  so  visibly 
under  their  influence  as  to  shock  all  who  were  present,  and  bring 
a  deeper  grief  to  the  country. 

On  the  seventeenth  he  made  a  speech  so  resolute  against 
rebellion,  so  loyal  and  promising,  as  to  lead  the  people  to  hope 
for  a  continuance  of  a  sound  administration.  But  in  a  few  days 
his  actions  were  so  different  from  what  the  .people  had  been  led 
to  expect  as  to  awaken  distrust  of  his  judgment  or  his  loyalty. 
Almost  the  entire  party  which  elected  him  soon  lost  confidence 
in  him. 

On  May  1,  he  appointed  a  military  commission  for  the  trial 
of  those  concerned  in  the  assassination  of  the  president,  and 
offered  a  hundred  thousand  dollars  for  the  arrest  of  Jefferson 
Davis,  and  smaller  sums  for  the  arrest  of  others  on  the  ground 
of  complicity  with  the  crime.  May  9,  he  promulgated  a  set  of 
rules  for  trade  with  the  south,  and  on  the  twenty- fourth  he 
removed  all  restrictions.  On  the  ninth  of  May  an  order  was 
issued  for  the  restoration  of  federal  relations  with  Virginia.  On 
the  twenty-ninth  of  May  two  proclamations  were  made,  one  estab- 
lishing a  provisional  government  in  South  Carolina,  and  the 
other  offering  a  general  amnesty  to  all  persons  who  had  been  in 
rebellion,  on  condition  of  taking  an  oath  of  allegiance,  excepting 
fourteen  specified  classes  who  might  obtain  pardon  on  personal 
application  to  the  president.  The  president  appointed  provis- 
ional governments  for  the  other  returning  states  in  rapid 
succession. 


416  OUK  PRESIDENTS. 

When  Congress  assembled  in  December  there  was  soon 
found  to  be  a  determined  opposition  in  that  body  to  the  presi- 
dent's reconstruction  measures.  In  the  judgment  of  Congress 
the  returning  rebels  should  make  some  proper  guarantees  of 
good  faith  to  the  government  and  provisions  for  the  rights  of 
the  colored  people  now  made  free.  A  joint  committee  of  fifteen 
was  appointed,  to  which  were  referred  all  questions  concerning 
the  recognition  of  returning  states.  Congress  passed  the  "civil 
rights  bill"  and  one  for  the  extension  of  the  freedman's  bureau, 
both  of  which  were  vetoed  by  the  president  and  passed  over  his 
head.  Early  in  1866  the  president  publicly  denounced  Congress 
as  in  another  rebellion.  In  June,  a  call  for  a  convention  to 
meet  in  Philadelphia,  was  issued,  as  it  turned  out,  to  try  to 
organize  a  president's  party;  but  nothing  came  of  it.  The 
members  of  the  president's  cabinet,  one  by  one,  resigned,  except 
Edwin  M.  Stanton,  whom  the  president  sought  to  remove,  but 
failed.  The  president,  with  several  friends,  went  to  Chigago  in 
August  to  assist  in  laying  the  foundation  of  a  monument  to 
Stephen  A.  Douglas.  He  made  speeches  on  the  way  of  a  strange 
and  almost  maudlin  character,  which  many  regarded  as  coming 
from  an- intoxicated  brain.  This  trip  he  called  "  swinging 
round  the  circle."  It  was  a  great  humiliation  to  a  country  so 
sensitive  to  the  honor  of  its  president. 

In  June,  Congress  resolved  that  no  state  should  return  with- 
out ratifying  the  fourteenth  amendment.  In  succeeding  sessions 
it  required  the  elective  franchise  to  be  granted  to  persons  in  the 
territories  without  respect  to  color,  and  in  the  District  of 
Columbia.  All  these  and  similar  measures  met  the  resolute 
opposition  of  President  Johnson.  They  were  passed  over  his 
vetos.  He  sought  steadily  to  defeat  the  plans  of  Congress,  and 
Congress  sought  to  repress  the  influence  and  action  of  the 
president,  regarding  them  as  in  sympathy  with  the  pro-slavery 
south.  Congress  had  passed  a  "tenure  of  office  act,"  which 
required  the  approval  of  the  Senate  to  dismiss  or  appoint  federal 
officers.  The  president  dismissed  Mr.  Stanton  and  appointed 
General  Grant  in  his  place  as  secretary  of  war,  in  the  face  of 
this  Congressional  requirement.  Congress  refused  to  approve 


ANDREW  JOHNSON.  417 

his  action.  The  president  again  sought  his  removal  and 
appointed  another  man.  Congress  passed  a  resolution  declaring 
that  "the  president  had  no  power  to  remove  the  secretary  of  war 
and  appoint  another  person  to  perform  the  duties  of  that  office. " 
The  next  day  the  House  of  Representatives  resolved  that  the 
president  be  impeached  for  high  crimes  and  misdemeanors. 
The  impeachment  movement,  though  carried  by  a  large  majority, 
failed  for  lack  of  the  requisite  two  thirds. 

At  the  next  democratic  national  convention,  Mr.  Johnson 
was  one  of  the  candidates  and  received  sixty-five  votes  on  the 
first  ballot. 

Untoward  and  unhappy  was  the  closing  part  of  Mr.  Johnson's 
life.  As  soon  as  the  rebellion  was  conquered,  he  seemed  to  go 
back  to  his  old  sympathy  with  the  slaveholders  and  the  south, 
and  to  try  to  use  the  power  of  his  high  office  in  their  behalf. 
The  evil  habit  of  the  use  of  intoxicating  drinks  disturbed  the 
poise  of  his  judgement,  and  degraded  his  moral  sense.  He 
brought  disgrace,  at  last,  upon  his  country,  after  having  won  its 
highest  honors.  As  seen  to-day,  it  is  pretty  clear  that  he  was 
over-estimated  and  over-trusted  by  the  generosity  of  the  loyal 
people.  Having  fine,  natural  powers,  his  lack  of  early  education 
and  life-long  affiliation  with  slavery,  made  him  unequal  to  the 
trying  ordeal  of  the  position  he  was  called  to  occupy. 

He  died  in  1875,  sixty-seven  years  of  age. 


f  HE  HEAVE  OF  ANDREW  IOHNSON. 

The  grave  of  President  Johnson,  is  on  a  beautiful  cone- 
shaped  eminence,  one  half  mile  southwest  of  Greenville,  Ten- 
nessee, where  he  had  so  long  lived  and  been  so  much  honored  by 
the  people.  He  selected  the  place  for  its  fine  outlook  over  the 
town  and  surrounding  country.  "From  piers  on  each  side  of 
the  graves  where  lie,  side  by  side,  the  president  and  his  wife, 
who  survived  him  less  than  six  months,  springs  a  granite  arch 
of  thirteen  stones,  beneath  which  are  the  graves,  covered  with 
27 


4l8 


OUR   P&ESIDEtftS. 


white  pebbles."  Upon  this  arch  rests  the  monument.  On  the 
marble  plinth  four  feet  and  a  half  square,  and  three  feet  and  a 
half  high,  is  this  inscription: 


SEVENTEENTH  PRESIDENT,  U.  S.  A. 
Born  December  29,   1808. 

Died  July  31,  1875. 
"  His  faith  in  the  people  never  wavered." 


His  wife's  name,  the  dates  of  her  birth  and  death,  and  "In 
memory  of  father  and  mother,"  are  inscribed  below.  The 
monument  was  erected  by  their  three  surviving  children.  On 
the  die  which  is  three  feet  and  a  half  square,  and  three  feet  and 
two  inches  high,  are  carved  a  scroll  of  the  constitution,  without 
the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  amendments,  and  an  open  bible  on 
which  rests  a  hand  as  in  the  act  of  taking  an  oath.  From  this 
die  rises  a  tapering  shaft  of  marble,  thirteen  feet  high  and  two 
feet  ten  inches  square  at  the  base.  The  top  is  hung  with  the 
American  flag  and  surmounted  by  an  eagle  with  its  wings  half 
spread. 

The  graves  of  their  two  sons,  Charles,  a  surgeon,  killed  by  the 
fall  of  his  horse  at  Nashville,  in  1863;  and  Eobert,  colonel  of  a 
Tennessee  regiment,  who  died  in  1869,  are  a  few  feet  from  the 
graves  of  their  parents. 

The  scenery  as  witnessed  from  this  place  is  singularly  pictur- 
esque, and  diversified.  It  is  a  fitting  place  to  hold  the  ashes  of 
a  great  nation's  president. 


U.  S.  GRANT. 


CHAPTER   XIX. 


ULYSSES    S.    GRA^TT. 

EIGHTEENTH  PRESIDENT  OP  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

T  is  not  great  talents  alone,  nor  favoring  circumstances, 
which  make  men  distinguished,  but  -usually  a  com- 
bination of  both.  Many  great  minds  pass  through  life 

in    obscurity ;    much   inestimable  worth  is  known  only 

to  a  few. 

"Full  many  a  flower  is  born  to  blush  unseen 
And  waste  its  sweetness  on  the  desert  air." 

There  are  vast  amounts  of  unknown  talent  and  unappreci- 
ated worth  in  all  human  society.  In  the  dull  mediocrity  of 
common  life  there  is  much  human  gold,  and  not  a  few  jewels 
of  rarest  water.  Most  men  are  under-valued.  Most  men 
under-value  themselves.  If  men  everywhere  knew  what  they 
could  be  and  do,  and  would  put  forth  their  best  efforts  con- 
stantly, we  should  live  in  the  society  of  the  noble  and  great. 
Nothing  is  so  much  against  us  as  our  disheartening  estimate 
of  ourselves. 

The  common  saying  that  circumstances  make  men  is  only 
half  true.  Men  can  be  great,  in  truth,  with  circumstances 
against  them ;  and  men  can  be  distinguished  by  the  favor  of 
fortunate  circumstances  when  they  are  not  great. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  must  be  classed  among  those  who 
have  become  distinguished  above  their  real  merits  by  the 

419 


420  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

circumstances  which  made  the  ladder  on  which  they  went  up 
to  fame. 

Had  it  not  been  for  the  war  of  the  rebellion,  there  is  no 
probability  that  he  would  have  attained  the  rank  of  an  average 
mail.  His  past  life  for  several  years,  his  apparent  business 
incompetency,  and  his  habits,  indicated  less  than  an  average 
success  in  life.  He  was  wasting  rather  than  augmenting 
his  power. 

But  the  opening  of  the  war  opened  a  career  to  him  which 
put  him  where  he  waked  up  to  honor,  to  duty  and  to  a  great 
life.  All  credit  is  due  him  for  using  nobly  his  opportunity. 
His  country  and  kind  have  reaped  the  benefit  of  it. 

ANCESTRY,    BIRTH   AND   BOYHOOD. 

The  biographers  of  President  Grant  have  generally  said  he 
was  of  Scotch  descent.  But  Eichard  A.  Wheeler,  of  Connecti- 
cut, claims  to  have  traced  his  lineage  directly  to  the  west  of 
England  through  the  company  of  immigrants  who  came  to 
Plymouth  colony  in  1630.  Among  those  who  came  that  year 
were  Matthew  and  Priscilla  Grant,  who  were  then  twenty-nine 
years  old.  "The  west  country  people,"  as  they  were  called  in 
England,  who  came  in  that  company,  settled  four  miles  from 
Boston,  at  Matapan,  which  is  now  Dorchester.  Four  years 
later  several  of  these  settlers  went  to  the  Connecticut  valley, 
and  among  them  was  Matthew  Grant,  who  had  lost  his  wife  and 
been  left  with  four  children.  They  settled  at  Winsdor,  and 
much  is  said  in  the  early  records  of  the  place  of  Matthew  Grant 
as  one  of  the  most  pious,  honest  and  active  citizens.  His  second 
son  was  Noah  ;  and  he  had  a  son  Noah  Avho  was  active  in  the 
French  and  English  war,  in  which  George  Washington  began 
his  career.  During  the  war  his  wife  died,  leaving  him  two  sons, 
Solomon  and  Peter.  After  a  little  while,  with  others,  he  went 
west  to  Westmoreland  county,  Pennsylvania,  on  the  Monon- 
gahela  river.  Two  years  after,  he  married  Eachel  Kelly,  a 
widow,  by  whom  he  had  seven  children.  The  fourth  child  by 
this  marriage  was  Jesse  Root  Grant,  bo.'n  January  23,  1794. 


ULYSSES   S.  GBANT.  421 

April,  1799,  Noah  Grant  and  his  family  moved  down  the  river 
and  settled  in  Columbiana  county,  Ohio.  He  made  but  a  short 
stay,  but  went  to  the  Western  Reserve,  where  many  Connecti- 
cut people  were  settling.  Jesse  was  ten  years  old.  Soon  after, 
his  mother  died.  They  settled  in  Portage  county,  near  Deer- 
field.  When  Jesse  was  fourteen  he  went  to  Youngstown, 
Trumbull  county,  and  lived  with  Judge  Todd.  Two  years  after, 
he  returned  to  Deerfield,  where  he  remained  two  years  to  work  with 
a  tanner  and  learn  the  trade.  At  eighteen  he  was  apprenticed 
to  a  half-brother  in  Maysville,  Kentucky.  In  1815  Jesse,  now 
twenty-one,  returned  to  Deerfield  and  set  up  tanning  business 
for  himself  in  a  small  way.  Two  years  later  he  went  to  Eavenna 
and  prospered  in  business;  but  the  fever  and  ague  drove  him  to 
Maysville.  He  regained  his  health;  settled  in  Point  Pleasant, 
in  Ohio,  on  the  river;  married  Hannah  Simpson  on  the  twenty- 
fourth  of  June,  1821,  and  on  the  twenty-seventh  of  April,  1822, 
their  first  baby,  Ulysses,  came  into  their  hands.  He  was  named 
Hiram  Ulysses. 

Ten  months  after  Ulysses  was  born  the  family  moved  to 
Georgetown,  ten  miles  back  from  the  river.  Ulysses  was  a  quiet, 
but  not  a  diffident  boy;  was  fond  of  sport,  hunting  and  horses. 
When  twelve  years  old  he  began  to  work  with  horses  as  a  team- 
ster in  hauling  lumber,  logs,  stone,  etc.,  and  soon  showed 
unusual  skill,  for  one  so  young.  Hand  work  he  disliked,  but 
give  him  a  team  and  he  never  wearied.  He  often  took  loads  to 
Cincinnati,  fifty  miles  away.  When  asked,  once,  "why  his 
horses  never  got  stalled/'  he  replied  instantly,  "Because  I  never 
get  stalled  myself."  Teaming,  driving,  working  with  horses 
was  his  favorite  employment.  He  was  shy  of  the  tannery,  but 
always  glad  to  be  with  the  team. 

He  went  to  school  after  he  was  four  years  old,  summer  and 
winter,  and  learned  and  recited  fluently  little  pieces;  was  always 
ready  with :  "  You'd  scarce  expect  one  of  my  age  to  speak  in 
public  on  the  stage,"  when  his  father  asked  for  it. 

After  eleven  he  was  too  useful  with  a  team  to  be  spared  for 
school,  except  three  months  in  the  winter.  So  his  love  of 
horses  spoiled  his  early  education.  He  was  a  sober,  thoughtful 


422  OUR  PRESIDENTS. 

boy,  peaceful,  helpful,  showing  no  special  talent  for  anything 
but  teaming. 

In  school  he  was  a  little  dull  and  slow,  except  in  arithmetic, 
for  which  he  showed  more  fondness. 

He  had  two  brothers  and  three  sisters.  His  mother  is  always 
spoken  of  as  a  thoughtful,  modest,  sensitive  woman,  of  much 
quiet  worth,  from  whom  he  inherited  the  best  of  his  character- 
istics. His  father  was  a  brusque,  talkative,  self-willed  man, 
opinionated,  dogmatic,  at  home  witli  the  coarser  side  of  the 
world,  not  over-scrupulous,  but  self-urgent,  pushing  his  own 
claims,  because  they  seemed  to  him  the  all-important  matters. 

The  family  were  brought  up  in  the  Methodist  church,  the 
mother  of  Ulysses  being  a  devout  and  conscientious  member. 
Some  say  his  father  was  a  member  also.  The  father  was  a 
heavy,  broad-shouldered,  thick-necked  man,  with  head  bent 
forward.  The  dominance  of  the  material  over  the  mental  in 
his  make-up  was  strong.  Ulysses  inherited  from  him  bodily  form 
and  force,  self-will  and  material  supremacy.  The  quiet,  retiring 
thoughtful  element  of  his  mother,  gave  him  a  cool,  modest  self- 
poise,  which  was  always  one  of  the  sources  of  his  strength 
and  success.  In  Ulysses  there  was  a  combination  of  the  father 
and  mother,  but  the  mother  prevailed.  He  grew  up  to  a  plain, 
chubby,  round-faced  country  youth  of  seventeen,  giving  to 
those  who  knew  him  not  the  slightest  glimpse  of  any  ability  to 
be  a  great  leader  or  in  any  way  a  marked  man.  His  character- 
istics as  then  known  to  his  neighbors  would  have  led  them  to 
expect  from  him  a  fair  livery-stable  man,  rather  than  a  military 
hero,  or  a  president  of  the  republic. 

There  was  a  military  vein  in  the  Grant  family.  One  of  the 
ancestors  had  been  in  the  French  and  English  war.  He  had 
often  fired  the  younger  members  with  his  war  stories.  Ulysses 
had  always  evinced  great  interest  in  soldiers,  trainings  and 
musters.  He  hated  the  tannery,  and  when  his  father  talked  of 
his  going  to  work  in  it,  he  spoke  out  his  repugnance.  "Well, 
what  do  you  want  to  do?"  the  father  asked.  "I  should  like  to 
be  a  farmer,  or  a  river  trader,  or  have  an  education/'  the  boy 
replied. 


ULYSSES   S.  GRANT.  423 

A  young  man  of  his  acquaintance  had,  not  long  before,  gone 
to  West  Point.  Jesse  Grant  had  much  admired  some  of  the 
army  men  that  he  had  known  something  of  as  military  men. 
He  was  a  democrat  of  the  real  Jacksonian  stripe.  It  occurred  to 
him  to  ask  Ulysses  how  he  would  like  uO  go  to  West  Point. 
"First  rate,"  was  his  prompt  reply.  Jesse  knew  the  congress- 
man from  his  district,  and  he  at  once  applied  for  an  appoint- 
ment for  Ulysses.  The  member  had  no  vacancy  in  his  district, 
but  a  neighbor  member  had,  and  so  it  was  soon  arranged  that- 
Jesse  Grant's  son  should  have  the  appointment.  It  was  a  quick, 
new  turn  of  affairs  in  the  Grant  family.  This  silent,  calm, 
oldest  boy,  that  looked  so  little  like  a  soldier,  or  anything  very 
promising,  to  other  eyes  than  his  family's,  must  now  be  got 
ready  for  his  cadet  appointment  at  West  Point.  There  was  a 
buzz  in  the  neighborhood.  Some  wise  ones  shook  their  heads. 
Everybody  wondered.  Of  all  the  youth  in  the  county,  this  was 
the  last  one  the  Georgetown  people  would  have  thought  of  for 
an  officer  to  lead  our  armies.  "Nothing  against  him;"  but, 
then,  "nothing  of  him,"  they  thought. 

Here  comes  in  the  glory  of  our  institutions.  This  is  the 
country  that  believes  in  the  plain  common  sense  and  common 
talent  of  the  people.  Ulysses  S.  Grant  could  not  have  been  the 
great  man  he  is  in  any  other  country.  The  republic  makes 
common  men  great  when  greatness  is  needed. 

GRANT   A    CADET. 

The  member  of  Congress  who  made  the  application  for 
Ulysses,  got  the  impression  that  his  name  was  Ulysses  Simpson 
Grant,  because  he  knew  one  of  the  boy's  names  was  Simpson, 
and  so  the  name  went  upon  the  books  at  West  Point  in  that 
form,  and  he  never  succeeded  in  getting  it  changed. 

Before  going,  he  took  a  short  course  of  special  study,  by  the 
aid  of  which  he  passed  a  fair  examination.  He  went  through 
his  course  at  West  Point  respectably ;  averaging  fair  in  his  reci- 
tations; having  a  good  record  in  deportment;  awakening  no 
suspicion  of  greatness  to  come.  He  was  noted  for  calmness, 
fairness,  for  speaking  without  exaggeration,  for  being  just  what 


424  OUR  PRESIDENTS. 

he  seemed.  He  could  master  any  studies  easily,  yet  studied  no 
more  than  was  necessary  for  fair  standing.  He  was  not  an 
ambitious  scholar ;  had  no  craving  for  knowledge ;  yet  could 
easily  do  much  more  than  he  did.  In  the  final  result  of  his 
course,  he  stood  twenty-first  in  a  class  of  thirty-five.  But  in  one 
thing  he  surpassed  all  the  cadets  of  all  the  classes  there  during 
his  stay.  That  was  in  horsemanship.  He  was  a  graceful  and 
skillful  rider,  and  a  master  of  the  horses  he  rode.  One  horse, 
by  the  name  of  York,  a  tall,  coarsely-made,  but  powerful  and 
spirited  animal,  which  few  could  ride  at  all,  was  his  favorite 
horse.  At  the  final  examination,  before  the  board  of  examiners 
and  the  great  company  t  of  visitors,  he  appeared  on  York  and 
made  the  celebrated  leap,  which  stands  recorded,  "Grant's  leap 
on  York,"  six  feet  and  some  two  or  three  inches,  over  a  pole, 
the  highest  leap  that  had  ever  been  made  at  the  academy. 
He  graduated  June  31,  1843. 

LIEUTENANT   GRANT. 

Mr.  Grant  was  breveted  at  once  Second-lieutenant  Grant  in 
the  fourth  infantry,  then  located  at  Jefferson  barracks,  near  St. 
Louis.  After  the  ninety  days  furlough  given  the  cadets  after 
their  graduation,  during  which  he  visited  his  friends  in  Ohio, 
he  repaired  to  his  regiment.  With  little  to  do,  and  without 
studious  habits,  he  must  find  some  way  to  employ  his  time. 
The  near  city  afforded  much  opportunity;  but  the  home  of  his 
classmate's  father,  Colonel  Frederick  Dent,  at  Gravois  creek, 
ten  miles  southwest  of  the  city,  offered  special  attractions. 
Julia  Dent,  three  years  younger  than  himself,  with  a  slave 
waiter  just  her  own  age,  so  that  she  had  nothing  to  do  but  make 
herself  agreeable,  made  it  exceedingly  pleasant  at  her  home  for 
the  young  lieutenant.  It  soon  became  an  apparent  necessity  for 
him  to  spend  much  time  with  the  Dents. 

Early  in  May,  1844,  Lieutenant  Grant  visited  his  home  in 
Ohio.  But  he  had  hardly  got  away  from  his  barracks  when  his 
regiment  received  orders  to  start  for  Ked  river,  to  render  assist- 
ance in  the  war  with  Mexico,  just  coming  on.  An  order  for 
him  to  meet  his  regiment  at  its  place  of  destination  followed 


ULYSSES   S.  GRANT.  425 

him,  and  cut  his  visit  short.  The  regiment  remained  there  a 
year.  In  June,  1845,  it  moved  to  a  point  four  miles  below  New 
Orleans,  near  the  old  Jackson  battle  ground.  There  it  remained 
till  August,  when  it  went  forward  to  Corpus  Christi,  Texas.  In 
October  Grant  was  made  regular  second-lieutenant.  In  March, 
1846,  the  force  at  Corpus  Christi  was  ordered  to  move  forward 
to  the  Rio  Grande.  On  the  second  of  May  it  was  in  the  battle 
of  Palo  Alto  (high  timber),  near  the  Rio  Grande,  under  General 
Taylor.  The  next  day  the  battle  of  Resaca  de  la  Palma  (grove 
of  palms)  was  fought.  In  both  of  these  battles  Grant's  regi- 
ment was  in  active  work.  Nine  days  after,  General  Taylor 
with  his  force  crossed  the  Rio  Grande  and  took  possession  of 
Matamoras. 

Grant's  regiment  moved  on  with  the  army  and  fought  in  the 
battle  of  Monterey.  It  was  here  where^Grant  did  the  fierce 
riding  through  shot  and  shell  for  ammunition.  He  had  been 
made  quartermaster;  and  losing  several  officers,  he  was  made 
adjutant.  Grant's  regiment  was  in  the  battles  of  Buena  Vista 
and  Puebla.  It  led  in  the  skirmishes  of  Contreras  and  San 
Antonio  and  in  the  battle  of  Cherubusco.  At  Chepultepec  he 
was  so  conspicuous  that  he  was  breveted,  then  promoted  to  a 
first-lieutenancy.  The  army  n^oved  upon  the  city  of  Mexico  and 
the  next  morning  it  surrendered  and  the  war  was  over.  It  cost 
us  twenty-five  thousand  men.  It  was  some  months  before  the 
army  returned,  but  as  soon  as  possible  our  lieutenant  visited 
Miss  Dent  and  his  parents  in  Ohio. 

GRANT'S  MARRIAGE. 

On  the  twenty-second  of  August,  1848,  at  the  Dent  residence 
on  Fourth  street,  St.  Louis,  Lieutenant  Ulysses  S.  Grant  and 
Miss  Julia  B.  Dent,  were  married.  After  the  visitings  and 
pleasurings  of  such  occasions  were  over,  they  went  to  the  head 
quarters  of  his  regiment,  at  Detroit.  He  was  soon  ordered  to 
Sackett's  Harbor,  New  York,  where  he  and  his  wife  spent  the 
winter,  returning  to  Detroit  in  the  spring,  and  setting  up  house- 
keeping in  such  a  moderate  way  as  he  was  able. 

In  1850,  they  broke  up  housekeeping  and  Mrs.  Grant  went  to 


426  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

her  father.  The  next  season  «»the  regiment  was  ordered  to 
Sackett's  Harbor,  and  the  next  to  California.  Here  he  was 
promoted  to  a  captaincy,  giving  up  the  quarter-master's  duties, 
which  he  had  performed  for  some  years.  At  Fort  Humboldt, 
two  hundred  and  forty  miles  north  of  San  Francisco,  where  he 
was  stationed,  he  found  little  to  occupy  his  mind.  His  family 
was  in  St.  Louis.  He  was  lonely,  and  little  interested  in  any- 
thing about  him,  and  in  this  low  state  of  mind  he  took  to  drink 
to  drown  his  melancholy  moods.  At  Sackett's  Harbor  he  was  a 
member  of  tfie  Sons  of  Temperance  and  the  Odd  Fellows.  No 
fraternities  of  this  kind  were  here;  no  help  from  wife  and 
children,  for  he  now  had  two  children,  cheered  him;  no  society 
guarded  him.  This  lonely,  far-off  fort,  offered  the  only  enemy 
he  did  not  resist  with  force  and  success.  On  this  battlefield  he 
was  beaten.  It  was  the  misfortune  of  his  life.  It  was  an  evil 
habit  sooner  taken  on  than  put  off.  It  followed  him  wherever 
he  went  and  for  some  years  produced  failure  in  whatever  he 
attempted,  and  put  him  among  a  class  of  associates  and  into 
places  that  did  not  belong  to  him. 

Eumor  came  to  his  ears  that  he  was  likely  to  be  displaced,  or 
reprimanded  if  he  did  not  reform;  and  so  he  at  once  sent  in  his 
resignation,  remarking  to  a  friend:  "Whoever  hears  of  me  in 
ten  years  will  hear  of  a  well-to-do  old  Missouri  farmer."  He 
started  at  once  for  New  York,  and  reaching  Governors  Island, 
forlorn  and  penniless;  some  brother  officers  gave  him  money  and 
sympathy,  both  of  which  were  equally  needed  now  in  his  ill- 
fortune.  He  went  to  Sackett's  Harbor  to  find  the  former  sutler 
of  his  regiment,  to  whom,  in  the  days  of  better  fortune,  he  had 
lent  sixteen  hundred  dollars,  whom  he  found,  but  without  the 
disposition,  or  the  money  to  pay  him.  He  returned  to  New 
York  again,  penniless  and  crest-fallen.  Evil  days  had  come  upon 
him.  He  was  out  of  the  army,  without  employment,  in  disgrace 
and  destitution.  Like  other  prodigals,  he  thought  of  his  father, 
and  wrote  to  him.  In  answer,  his  brother  Simpson  came  to  his 
relief  with  the  old  home  love,  and  money  to  take  him  to  his 
wife  and  children,  at  her  father's  in  St.  Louis.  After  a  visit 
there  he  went  with  his  family  to  his  father's,  now  at  Covington, 


ULYSSES   S.  GRANT.  427 

Kentucky,  where  he  remained  for  several  months.  He  was 
now  thirty-two  years  old  and  in  this  sad  plight  —  a  dependent 
on  his  and  his  wife's  parents  in  consequence  of  his  drunken 
habits. 

CAPTAIN  GRANT  A   FARMER. 

There  seemed  nothing  else  to  be  done  but  to  go  to  White- 
haven,  at  Gravois  (gravel)  creek,  ten  miles  out  the  Gravois  road 
at  St.  Louis,  and  take  up  farming  on  sixty  acres  of  the  old  Dent 
farm,  which  her  father  had  given  to  Mrs.  Grant.  So,  to  her 
old  birthplace  they  went,  and  put  up  a  log  cabin,  and  set  up  for 
farmers.  He  named  the  place  "Hardscrabble."  The  writer  of 
this  sketch  lived  five  years  three  miles  out  on  the  Gravios  road, 
and  often  heard  of  "  Hardscrabble "  farther  out,  but  little 
thought  of  its  owner  as  the  future  president  of  the  republic. 
Mrs.  Grant  had  three  or  four  slaves,  but  her  husband  knew  little 
how  to  work  them  to  advantage.  Hauling  wood  to  St.  Louis, 
was  an  important  item  in  the  business  of  the  new  farmer.  This 
seemed  like  his  boyhood's  employment  returned  under  new 
circumstances.  He  drove  a  good  team;  but  his  evil  habit,  if  the 
reports  of  the  neighbors  are  reliable,  drove  him  sometimes  on  his 
return  from  the  city.  Though  it  seems  that  he  fought  against 
this  evil  habit,  refusing  to  drink  with  army  friends,  as  some  of 
them  report.  It  was  the  old  story,  a  hard  fight  and  often 
worsted. 

GRANT  A  REAL  ESTATE  AGENT. 

January  1,  1859,  Captain  Grant  entered  into  partnership 
with  Harry  Boggs,  who  had  married  a  niece  of  the  Dent  family. 
He  rented  Hardscrabble  the  next  spring  and  hired  a  house  in 
the  city.  He  then  sold  his  farm  and  bought  in  the  city,  but  he 
found  the  scrabble  quite  as  hard  in  the  city  as  on  the  farm.  In 
less  than  a  year  the  firm  dissolved.  He  then  obtained  a  tempo- 
rary position  in  the  custom  house,  but  in  a  month  the  collector 
died,  and  he  was  out  again.  Nothing  opening,  and  having  four 
children  to  care  for,  he  went  again  to  his  father.  His  father 
had  set  up  Ulysses'  two  brothers,  Simpson  and  Orvill,  in  the 
tanning  business,  in  Galena,  Illinois.  He  referred  the  case  of 


428  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

Ulysses  to  them,  and  they  proposed  to  give  him  employment 
at  six  hundred  dollars  a  year;  so,  in  March,  1860,  he  and  his 
family  went  to  Galena. 

GRANT   A    CLERK   IN    GALENA. 

He  set  up  housekeeping  in  a  prudent  Avay.  His  clerkship 
was  a  general  one.  He  had  not  yet  developed  the  business 
faculty.  He  was  better  at  telling  stories  than  making  bargains, 
His  income  did  not  meet  his  expenses.  Harclscrabble  had  come 
with  him.  His  brothers  raised  his  salary  to  eight  hundred 
dollars.  With  this  he  did  better,  and  had  begun  to  be  more 
hopeful  of  a  fair  living.  His  father  had  got  reasonably  wealthy; 
the  brothers  had  a  good  start;  he  hoped  for  a  partnership  soon. 

THE   OPENING   REBELLION. 

The  presidential  campaign  of  1860  came  on.  Grant  had 
never  voted  but  once ;  that  was  against  Fremont,  and  for 
Buchanan.  He  was  ashamed  of  Buchanan.  He  had  been  a 
democrat  in  a  quiet  way,  though  his  father  and  brothers  had 
become  enthusiastic  republicans.  He  heard  Douglas,  and  was 
dissatisfied  with  him.  He  was  not  a  voter  in  Illinois,  though  he 
had  began  to  feel  much  sympathy  for  the  republicans,  and  when 
Lincoln  was  elected  joined  with  his  brothers  in  a  celebration  at 
their  store. 

When  the  war  broke  out  he  presided  at  the  first  meeting  to 
raise  a  company  of  soldiers,  yet  another  man  was  made  captain. 
A  neighbor  took  Elihu  B.  Washburne,  member  of  Congress  from 
that  district,  in  to  see  Captain  Grant.  He  invited  him  to  go  to 
Springfield  with  him  in  a  few  days.  After  much  delay  and  con- 
fusion Governor  Yates  took  him  into  his  office  to  do  the  military 
pavt  of  the  business.  He  soon  brought  order  out  of  confusion. 
lie  was  self-distrusting,  and  asked  for  no  position,  yet  he  wanted 
one.  One  of  the  clerks  from  the  Galena  store  was  one  day  in 
the  Governor's  office,  and  he  asked:  "What  kind  of  a  man  is 
this  Captain  Grant;  he  seems  anxious  to  serve,  though  reluctant 
to  take  any  high  position."  The  clerk  replied:  "The  way  to 
deal  with  him  is  to  ask  no  questions,  but  order  him,  and  he  will 


ULYSSES   S.  GRANT.  429 

obey."  Just  then  a  regiment  from  Decatur  was  disorderly  and 
out  with  its  colonel.  The  governor  appointed  Grant  its  colonel 
and  ordered  him  at  once  to  the  command.  Out  of  the  confu- 
sion he  soon  brought  order.  In  a  few  days  Grant  and  his  regi- 
ment were  ordered  to  Missouri.  He  marched  his  regiment 
across  the  country  for  discipline. 

In  July  Congress  met.  A  delegation  met  to  arrange  army 
matters.  E.  B.  Washburne  urged  Grant  for  a  brigadier.  Among 
some  forty  candidates  he  was  the  only  one  who  received  every 
vote. 

BRIGADIER-GENERAL   GRANT. 

Colonel  Grant  at  once  accepted  the  new  position,  and  soon 
was  in  southern  Missouri,  holding  in  check  the  armed  and 
unarmed  rebels.  Learning  of  rebels  centering  at  Paducah, 
Kentucky,  he  proceeded,  without  orders,  to-  possess  the  town 
and  capture  a  great  amount  of  military  stores.  He  was  thus 
soon  in  the  heart  of  the  enemy's  country  and  in  possession  of 
this  strategic  point  on  the  Ohio,  and  at  the  mouth  of  the  Ten- 
nessee river.  He  soon  had  a  staff  of  intelligent  and  patriotic 
men. 

He  was  restive  for  action,  and  after  too  much  waiting  he 
received  orders  from  Fremont  to  head  off  the  rebels  at  Colum- 
bus, below  Cairo,  from  reinforcing  Price  in  Missouri.  At  once, 
he  started  a  division  down  the  west  side  of  the  Mississippi  to^ 
Belmont,  opposite  Columbus,  one  down  the  east  side  in  the  rear 
of  Columbus,  and  went  himself  down  the  river  Avith  three 
thousand  men.  At  Belmont  he  had  a  sharp  and  victorious  fight 
with  the  rebel  detachment  there,  and  returned  to  Cairo. 

Here  much  delay  occurred.  Fremont  was  removed  and 
Halleck  put  in  his  place,  and  army  movements  rested  for  a  time. 
Sixty-five  miles  up  the  Tennessee  was  the  rebel  Fort  Henry,  and 
a  few  miles  southeast  on  the  Cumberland,  Fort  Donelson. 
Grant  was  anxious  to  capture  these  forts.  Halleck  put  him  off, 
and  even  censured  him  for  interference.  On  the  first  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1862,  Grant  received  permission  to  proceed  against  Fort 
Henry.  Commodore  Foote  was  nearly  ready,  and  they  were 


430  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

soon  off.  The  land  forces  left  the  boats  three  miles  below  the 
fort,  to  attack  in  the  rear.  The  gun-boats  moved  up  to  within 
good  firing  distance,  and  opened  upon  the  fort,  which  surren- 
dered in  an  hour  and  a  quarter,  before  the  land  forces  could  get 
into  .position  on  account  of  the  mud. 

The  next  move,  was  to  be  on  Fort  Donelson,  twelve  miles 
across  the  country.  Foote  went  round  with  his  boats.  Heavy 
rains,  flooding  the  country,  kept  Grant  back  a  few  days,  but  he 
moved  as  soon  as  possible  and  stretched  his  line  around  the  fort 
from  the  river  above  to  the  river  below.  Foote's  boats  came  up 
but  could  do  but  little,  the  batteries  of  the  fort  were  so  high. 
Grant  opened  all  around  upon  the  rear  works  of  the  fort.  The 
fight  was  a  severe  one,  but  the  rebels  surrendered  the  second 
morning.  There  were  about  twenty  thousand  soldiers  on  each 
side,  the  rebels  thoroughly  entrenched,  and  yet  they  were 
fought  out  of  their  entrenchments  and  forced  to  surrender. 

These  were  two  great  victories,  early  gained.  They  opened 
the  way  into  the  very  heart  of  the  rebel  territory.  These  move- 
ments of  Grant,  the  only  ones  that  had  hurt  the  rebels  much, 
made  him  famous. 

But  General  Grant  pushed  forward  into  the  rebellious 
regions,  up  the  Tennessee  river  into  the  south  part  of  the  state 
of  Tennessee,  and  had  different  parts  of  his  army  at  Savannah, 
Shiloh  and  Pittsburg  Landing,  places  only  a  few  miles  apart. 
The  rebel  generals,  thinking  to  dash  unexpectedly  upon  one  of 
'his  divisions  at  a  time,  and  destroy  them  by  piece  meal,  made  a 
forced  march  and  attacked  him  at  Shiloh.  It  was  a  fierce 
attack  and  a  desperate  battle,  lasting  all  day  Sunday,  the  rebels 
slowly  gaining  ground  all  day.  In  the  night  Grant's  expected 
reinforcements  arrived,  and  he  opened  the  battle  early,  to 
become  master  of  the  field.  Hardly  any  one  battle  did  the 
rebels  more  harm.  The  battle  was  fought  on  the  sixth  and 
seventh  of  April,  Sunday  and  Monday.  So  great  was  the 
rejoicing  over  this  victory,  won  by  some  forty  thousand  of  our 
soldiers,  that  President  Lincoln  appointed  a  day  of  thanks- 
giving. 

But  it  was  not  without  trial  to  General  Grant.  He  was  winning 


ULYSSES   S.  GRANT.  431 

victory  after  victory.  Some  of  the  less  fortunate  generals  were 
envious.  General  Halleck,  his  division  commander,  censured 
him  for  fighting  without  orders,  and  came  into  the  field  and 
took  the  command  himself.  Some  accused  him  of  being  drunk, 
and  slaughtering  his  men.  •  This  accusation  often  came  up 
against  him  during  the  war,  not  because  there  was  any  truth  in 
it,  but  because  he  had  for  a  time,  before  the  war,  been  subject 
to  the  drinking  habit. 

Halleck  was  slow,  timid,  halting ;  and  the  army  did  little 
else  than  use  the  spade  for  many  weeks ;  but  slowly  he  came  to 
see  that  Grant  was  a  winning  officer,  and  gave  him  the  command 
of  West  Tennessee.  During  the  autumn  he  took  Memphis, 
Jackson,  La  Grange,  luka,  and  the  regions  about  them.  No 
one  can  read  the  story  of  that  campaign  without  seeing  that 
Halleck's  jealousy  of  Grant  put  a  stop  to  the  victorious  move- 
ments of  our  army  in  Tennessee. 

But  now  Grant  had  his  mind  on  Vicksburg,  as  tht  key  to  the 
Mississippi  and  the  southwest.  Early  in  1863,  he  had  the  com- 
mand of  fifty  thousand  men,  and  all  needful  supplies.  This 
movement  upon  Vicksburg  was  a  great  campaign,  which  many 
pages  cannot  adequately  describe.  It  was  attended  with  immense 
difficulties,  which  cannot  be  comprehended  without  a  full  geo- 
graphical knowledge  of  the  country  around  it.  After  many 
attempts  to  get  below  Vicksburg,  on  the  west  and  east,  it  was 
at  last  determined  to  run  the  batteries,  with  gunboats,  steamers, 
and  flatboats,  and  march  the  army  down  on  the  west  side  of 
the  river,  recross  to  the  east  side,  and  fight  the  way  back  in  the 
rear  of  Vicksburg  on  the  east.  In  twenty  days  he  marched  two 
hundred  miles,  fought  five  battles,  took  ninety  guns,  and  cap- 
tured six  thousand  of  the  enemy,  killing  and  wounding  many 
more.  And  all  this  was  done  to  get  into  position  to  fight 
Pemberton  and  his  army  in  Vicksburg.  Many  of  his  best  officers, 
and  even  Sherman,  had  no  confidence  in  the  success  of  the  move- 
ment ;  but,  when  accomplished,  all  could  see  that  it  not  only 
destroyed  the  army  in  Vicksburg,  and  took  that  stronghold,  but 
conquered  the  supporting  armies  behind  it,  and  opened  all  that 
region  of  country  to  the  Union  cause.  The  whole  southwest 


432  OUR    PRESIDENTS. 

was  taken  by  this  grand  movement.  On  the  fourth  day  of  July, 
J  863,  General  Pemberton  marched  out,  and  gave  his  arms  and 
the  place  to  General  Grant. 

No  words  can  tell  the  joy  it  gave  the  country.  Henceforth, 
the  complete  re-establishment  of  the  Union  was  only  a  question 
of  time.  After  this,  there  were  none  to  question  the  great  mili- 
tary ability  of  General  Grant,  and  his  generous  and  loyal  spirit. 
His  two  years  of  successes,  without  a  failure,  against  trained 
generals  of  great  ability,  and  as  brave  soldiers  as  ever  went  forth 
to  war,  put  his  name  among  the  great  commanders  of  the  world. 
Whatever  criticism  may  be  made  of  him  as  a  civilian,  as  a  soldier 
he  must  be  given  a  high  rank. 

The  president,  through  the  secretary  of  war,  now  consolidated 
the  three  western  divisions  of  the  army  under  General  Grant, 
with  his  headquarters  in  the  field.  Chattanooga  was  the  point 
he  fixed  on  at  once  as  his  center  of  operation,  and  telegraphed 
to  General  Thomas  to  hold  it.  He  telegraphed  to  Sherman,  to 
Burnside,  to  Hooker,  to  reach  Chattanooga  with  their  armies  as 
soon  as  possible.  The  rebels  believed  their  position  on  Lookout 
Mountain  impregnable.  Jefferson  Davis  himself  had  visited  it, 
and  made  a  speech  to  the  rebel  army,  there  made  secure. 

All  things  being  ready,  on  the  twenty-third  of  November  the 
battle  opened.  It  lasted  three  days,  and  brought  another  great 
victory.  Nothing  more  brilliant  and  satisfactory  had  yet  been 
done.  Grant  said  of  it :  "I  presume  a  battle  never  took  place 
on  so  large  a  scale  where  so  much  of  it  could  be  seen,  or  where 
every  move  proved  so  successful."  President  Lincoln  thanked 
the  commanding  general  and  the  whole  army,  and  appointed  a 
national  thanksgiving.  Halleck  pronounced  it  "the  most 
remarkable  battle  of  history."  The  force  of  Grant  was  about 
sixty  thousand;  that  of  the  rebel  General  Bragg  about  forty-five 
thousand,  on  chosen  ground  and  in  entrenchments  and  rifle-pits. 

LIEUTENANT-GENERAL   GRANT. . 

Before  "Washington's  death,  when  a  war  with  France  was 
anticipated,  a  new  office  was  created  for  Washington,  which 


ULYSSES   S.  GRANT.  433 

would  give  him  the  command  of  all  the  armies  without  going 
into  the  field  unless  he  chose.  In  the  last  days  of  General 
Scott  it  was  revived  again.  After  General  Grant's,  remarkable 
series  of  successes  without  a  failure,  and  his  wisdom  and 
modesty  in  his  victories,  the  question  of  reviving  the  office  was 
introduced  into  Congress. 

Doolittle  said :  "  General  Grant  has  won  seventeen  battles, 
captured  one  hundred  thousand  prisoners,  taken  five  hundred 
pieces  of  artillery  and  innumerable  thousands  of  small  arms  on 
all  these  fields.  He  has  organized  victory  from  the  beginning, 
and  I  want  him  in  a  position  where  he  can  organize  final 
victory  and  bring  it  to  our  armies,  and  put  an  end  to  this 
rebellion." 

Wilson  added  that  "he  had  taken  more  prisoners  and  more 
cannon  than  ever  Washington  or  Scott  saw  on  all  their  battle- 
fields." 

A  bill  was  passed  reviving  the  office,  and  President  Lincoln, 
who  all  along  had  held  fast  to  Grant  as  the  kind  of  man  to  lead 
our  armies,  appointed  him  to  the  office.  This  was  March  9,  1864. 

He  immediately  visited  the  army  of  the  Potomac,  which  had 
so  long  exhibited  a  masterly  inactivity.  He  recommended  to 
the  government  the  new  policy  of  conducting  the  movements 
of  all  our  armies  by  one  plan,  that  of  striking  heavy  blows 
everywhere  at  once.  At  once  he  went  about  arranging  for  it, 
and  as  soon  as  ready  he  crossed  the  Eapidan,  Sherman  and 
Thomas  moved  south,  Sherman  being  left  free  to  go  as  far  and 
do  what  he  pleased.  Butler  moved  up  the  James,  Sigel  up  the 
Shenandoah,  Averill  forward  in  West  Virginia,  Banks  up  the 
Red  river  and  into  Texas,  McPherson  into  Mississippi.  There 
was  a  simultaneous  "  forward,  march."  It  busied  every  depart- 
ment of  the  rebel  army  at  once  with  the  army  in  its  front.  No 
more  helping  one  another.  Then  the  work  everywhere  went 
steadily  on.  Every  part  of  the  great  army  was  busy  and  kept 
busy  till  the  final  victory  came. 

The  great  battles  of  the  Wilderness,  Spotsylvania  and  Cold 
Harbor,  which  cost  fifty-four  thousand  Union  lives,  followed 
right  on  in  quick  succession;  Sheridan  swept  the  valley  of  the 
28 


434  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

Shenandoah;  Sherman  spread  consternation  in  his  march  to  the 
sea,  and  others  in  their  spheres  were  doing  like  decided  work. 
From  the  Potomac  to  the  Eio  Grande,  Grant's  spirit  was  in  the 
army.  Every  man,  from  the  lieutenant-general  to  the  private, 
was'at  his  post  and  at  work.  In  this  fearful  work  of  war  the  fall 
and  winter  wore  away,  all  the  country  seeing  that  the  confed- 
eracy must  soon  collapse.  In  due  time  Eichmond  fell,  Peters- 
burg was  taken,  the  country  in  that  part  of  Virginia  which  had 
been  the  seat  of  rebel  operations  was  in  Grant's  possession.  The 
army  of  General  Eobert  E.  Lee,  which  had  so  long  supported  the 
rebellion,  was  conquered.  Seeing  the  hopelessness  of  further 
resistance,  on  the  ninth  of  April,  18G5,  General  Lee  surrendered 
to  General  Grant. 

Both  armies  were  now  disbanded  to  go  to  their  homes.  The 
poor  misguided  Confederates  went  to  desolated  homes,  to  an 
impoverished  country,  to  a  wrecked  and  shattered  state  of 
society.  The  Union  soldiers  went  home  to  prosperity,  to  plenty, 
even  luxury  among  the  people.  But  each  carried  home  the 
moral  degeneracy,  the  idleness  and  vices  peculiar  to  war,  to  be 
slowly  overcome  by  Christian  endeavor. 

Terrible  past  expression,  are  the  calamities  of  war.  The 
outward  destruction  of  property,  the  cost  in  money,  life  and 
limb,  the  immeasurable  waste  to  industry,  are  not  the  worst  of 
the  evil.  The  brutality,  coarseness,  hardness,  profanity,  drunk- 
enness, moral  degeneracy,  that  it  brings  to  and  leaves  in  vast 
numbers,  is  a  tremendous  weight  to  be  cast  upon  society.  It 
takes  a  generation  to  overcome  the  moral  evils  of  such  a  war. 
Let  men  engage  in  devil's  work  and  they  will  make  themselves 
devils.  War  is  a  mighty  corrupter  of  men  and  morals.  It  is 
time  the  civilized  world  was  done  with  it.  It  is  a  burning  dis- 
grace to  manhood  and  Christian  society  that  war  is  yet  tolerated 
as  a  mode  of  settling  difficulties  among  men  and  nations.  It  is 
to  nations  what  the  duel  is  to  individuals — a  relic  of  barbarism. 
But  it  has  rid  the  United  States  of  slavery,  it  may  be  said. 
Yes,  so  it  has,  but  it  was  only  using  one  evil  to  destroy  another. 
It  killed  a  million  of  white  men,  made  a  million  widows  and 
sorrowing  mothers,  desolated  the  southern  states  and  immensely 


ULYSSES  S.  GRAKT.  435 

indebted  the  whole  country,  to  give  freedom  to  four  millions  of 
slaves. 

Then,  it  may  be  replied,  that  the  south  would  never  have 
given  up  its  slaves  in  any  other  way.  Possibly  not.  Yet  it  was 
the  dearest  possible  way  for  the  soutli  to  get  rid  of  an  evil 
which  was  its  worst  enemy.  But  it  is  past  now,  slavery,  war 
and  all.  Let  it  be  past,  and  all  the  enmity  and  moral  and  social 
evil  that  came  with  it.  We  are  one  country,  one  people,  have 
one  history  and  one  future  now.  If  we  did  have  a  war  among 
ourselves,  it  was  the  greatest  one  ever  had  among  men,  and  pro- 
duced the  greatest  generalship  and  soldiership,  on  both  sides, 
yet  known  among  men  on  so  large  a  scale. 

But  what  did  the  war  do  for  Ulysses  S.  Grant  ?  It  made 
him.  It  took  him  from  a  low  place,  from  a  weak  self-respect 
and  self-control,  from  obscurity,  from  a  possible,  and  perhaps 
probable,  life-struggle  with  poverty  and  bad  habits,  and  put  him 
upon  the  pinnacle  of  a  world-wide  fame — gave  him  friends, 
confidence,  even  adulation,  wealth,  and  the  highest  honor  of 
the  republic.  But  even  this  is  not  the  best  it  did  for  him.  It 
developed  through  all  the  years  of  the  war  a  better  and  better 
manhood,  an  improving  excellence  of  character.  It  is  difficult 
for  one  to  study  the  life  of  Grant  and  not  see  that  from  the  time 
he  entered  the  army  of  the  Union  at  Springfield,  he  began  to  be 
a  better  man  —  more  self-respecting,  self-sacrificing  —  that  he 
had  more  of  the  feeling  that  he  was  in  the  world  for  a  purpose, 
which  was  to  serve  his  country  and  his  kind,  to  be  a  man 
genuine,  large  and  useful. 

Six  days  after  General  Lee  surrendered,  President  Lincoln 
was  assassinated.  Grant  had  no  better  friend  than  the  presi- 
dent. Through  all  the  fault  found  with  Grant,  he  always  believed 
in  him,  and  defended  him. 

Now  came  Andrew  Johnson,  as  president,  who  objected  to, 
and  sought  to  hinder,  the  reconstruction  measures  of  Congress, 
which  proposed  to  give  the  ballot  to  the  freedmen.  A  long 
contest  between  Congress  and  the  executive  followed,  in  which 
General  Grant  sought  to  stand  on  neutral  ground.  The  presi- 
dent removed  Mr.  Stanton,  secretary  of  war,  and  appointed 


436  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

General  (4rant ;  but  Congress  objected  to  the  removal,  and  so 
General  Grant's  cabinet  position  Avas  short-lived.  Slowly  dragged 
along  the  weary  length  of  President  Johnson's  time,  which  made 
the  general's  neutral  position  an  uncomfortable  one. 

PRESIDENT   GRANT. 

On  the  twentieth  of  May,  1868,  the  national  republican 
convention  of  six  hundred  and  fifty  delegates,  met  in  Chicago 
and  voted  for  a  candidate  for  the  next  president.  Every  vote  was 
for  General  Grant.  Every  state  was  represented.  The  enthu- 
siasm on  the  occasion  was  intense  and  tumultuously  expressive. 
It  told  of  a  united  country ;  of  reconstructed  states ;  of  slavery 
abolished ;  of  harmony  between  the  coming  president  and  Con- 
gress ;  of  a  new  south  in  the  years  to  come,  and  of  a  country  to 
be,  with  all  the  sections  prosperous,  and  at  peace  with  each 
other.  J.I  was  one  of  the  greatest  occasions  in  the  history  of  this 
country,  full  of  great  epochs.  The  great  leaders  in  thought, 
like  Horace  Greeley,  Charles  Sumner,  Abraham  Lincoln,  had 
done  their  work  in  the  minds  and  hearts  of  the  nation.  Discus- 
sion had  been  deep  and  strong  for  years,  all  the  time  winning 
men  more  and  more  to  the  doctrines  of  the  declaration  of  inde- 
pendence. Now  the  time  had  come  when  these  doctrines  could 
be  put  into  practice,  when  they  were  no  longer  an  idle  declara- 
tion, but  a  practical  reality ;  and  the  man  who  had  been  one  of 
the  most  practical  and  powerful  instruments  in  bringing  about 
this  state  of  things,  was  nominated  for  the  presidency.  It  was 
inevitable  that  General  Grant  should  be  president.  The  people 
would  have  it  so.  His  great  work  in  the  Avar,  groAving  greater 
with  each  succeeding  year,  culminating  at  last  in  the  destruction 
of  the  slave-holder's  rebellion ;  his  simplicity  of  life,  modesty, 
and  plain  honesty  and  common  sense,  had  made  him  the  one 
man  Avhom  the  people  Avould  promote  to  the  highest  place  of 
honor  and  trust.  No  matter  if  he  had  not  been  a  civilian ;  no 
matter  if  he  had  not  voted  but  once,  and  then  for  Buchanan;  no 
matter  if  he  had  been  a  slave-holder,  and  failed  in  self-govern- 
ment over  his  appetite,  before  the  Avar;  nobody  else  could  bo 
thought  of  for  president.  It  was  cruelty  to  him,  but  the  people 


tTLYSSES   S.  GRANT.  437 

did  not  mean  it  so.  It  was  robbing  him  of  his  just  dues,  an 
unsullied  and  immortal  reputation,  to  grow  brighter  through 
the  ages,  as  one  of  the  world's  greatest  captains;  but  this  was  not 
the  intention.  It  was  a  moral  impossibility  that  he  should  do 
in  the  presidency  which  he  knew  nothing  of,  as  he  had  done  in 
the  army  for  which  he  had  been  trained,  and  in  which  he  had 
seen  much  service  under  those  great  generals,  Taylor  and  Scott. 
The  country  was  never  fuller  of  great  civilians  than  at  that  time. 
The  country  never  needed  great  civil  talent,  knowledge  and 
experience,  more  than  then.  It  was  putting  a  landsman  on  board 
of  a  ship  in  a  storm,  to  command  it.  Yes,  it  was  cruelty  to  the 
general,  who  would  have  lived  forever  in  the  hearts  of  the  people 
as  the  Wellington  of  America.  So  unwise  is  the  love  of  a  good 
people  under  such  circumstances. 

The  election  went  forward  as  did  the  convention,  to  the 
inevitable  result,  which  made  our  great  and  lovable  general 
a  commonplace  president. 

Commonplace  he  was  obliged  to  be  in  a  place  as  new  to  him 
as  a  new  world. 

The  place  was  as  difficult  as  it  was  new.  The  conquered  but 
sullen  south;  the  humiliated  but  not  conquered  democrats  of 
the  north,  would  both  make  him  all  the  trouble  they  could.  The 
republicans  anxious  to  punish  the  south,  and  the  republicans 
greedy  for  places  in  the  north,  were  neither  of  them  helpful  to 
him.  He,  like  the  martyred  Lincoln,  had  only  kindness  for  the 
south,  and  kindness  for  everybody ;  but  he  could  not  have  his 
way  in  such  turbulent  times. 

He  sought  at  the  start  to  reform  the  civil  service  by  appointing 
politically  unambitious  men  to  important  posts  of  duty,  but  in 
these  attempts  the  political  managers  soon  worsted  him  and  got 
their  own  way,  so  that  before  his  administration  was  through,  he 
was  quite  in  their  hands.  By  his  good  nature  he  was  led  to  accept 
many  presents  from  men  who  had  personal  interests  to  serve, 
listen  to  many  counselors  who  were  ambitious  of  their  own  pro- 
motion, appoint  many  relatives  and  intimates  to  places  of  trust 
and  profit,  to  his  own  discredit,  and  give  credence  to  schemes  of 
plausible  theorists,  which  did  not  gain  wise  confidence  for  him. 


438  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

In  the  army  he  easily  and  naturally  controlled  all  opposing 
wills ;  in  the  government  he  was  as  easily  controlled  by  adroit 
politicians ;  so  that  beginning  his  administration  as  a  reformer, 
he  ended  in  close  affiliation  with  the  old  line  managers,  or 
" machine"  men  as  they  were  called.  Seldom  have  more  men  in 
high  places  fallen  into  evil  and  brought  disgrace  to  the  govern- 
ment, than  during  the  second  term  of  his  administration.  He 
meant  well,  but  was  too  closely  invested  by  men  and  things 
which  he  could  not  manage,  to  gain  much  credit  for  his  well 
meaning.  Since  the  days  of  Washington,  no  military  man  has 
given  the  country  a  wise  civil  administration.  And  it  must 
always  be  remembered  that  he  was  more  a  civilian  than  a  soldier. 
The  nation  loved  General  Grant ;  the  nation  bore  with  President 
Grant ;  and  yet  by  and  by  the  great  general  will  overgrow  the 
less  president,  and  he  will  live  in  the  military  honor  he  justly 
deserves. 

PRESIDENT  GRANT  THE  TRAVELER. 

President  Grant  closed  his  public  service  on  the  fourth  day 
of  March,  1877.  He  had  had  sixteen  years  of  continuous  public 
duty,  for  the  most  part,  in  heavily  responsible  places.  He  had 
long  desired  to  see  the  world.  Now  was  his  time.  He  had  good 
health,  as  he  always  had,  good  eyes,  and  a  placid  spirit,  which 
could  sleep  always,  when  it  was  time  to  sleep,  and  now  he  was 
in  mood  to  go.  On  the  seventeenth  of  May,  1877,  he  and  his 
wife,  son,  and  a  party  of  friends,  left  Philadelphia,  and  went 
down  the  Delaware  thirty-five  miles,  and  boarded  the  "  Indiana," 
which  was  ready  for  the  voyage.  They  sailed  directly  for  Eng- 
land, where  he  was  received,  as  Lord  Beaconsfield  had  deter- 
mined he  should  be,  "as  a  sovereign."  Perhaps  no  public  man 
was  ever  more  feted  and  feasted,  and  publicly  honored,  in 
England,  from  the  humblest  citizen  to  the  queen,  than  was  he. 
England  loves  great  generals,  and  knows  when  she  finds  one. 
It  may  be  that  she  was  making  up  for  her  bad  treatment  of  us, 
during  the  war,  but  yet  she  was  magnaminous  enough  to  treat 
our  great  general  as  he  deserved. 

From  England,  President  Grant  and  party  went  to  Belgium, 


ULYSbES   S.  G2ANT.  439 

to  be  received  in  a  similar  way;  and  then  to  Germany  and 
Switzerland,  to  be  regaled  by  the  mountain  air  and  views  ;  and 
then  across  the  channel  to  Scotland.  Having  taken  a  hasty 
run  through  Scotland  and  England,  he  crossed  to  France. 

After  seeing  the  principal  sights  of  this  country,  the  "Indi- 
ana" took  its  way,  through  the  straits  of  Gibraltar,  into  the 
Mediterranean  sea  to  Italy  and  Greece,  and  their  wonders ;  and 
then  southward  to  Egypt,  where  carpets  were  spread  on  the 
ground  to  receive  him,  and  old  army  comrades,  then  in  the  ser- 
vice of  the  king  of  Egypt,  greeted  him.  Here,  as  elsewhere, 
king  and  people  gave  him  a  welcome.  The  Pyramids,  the  Nile 
and  Upper  Egypt,  were  in  turn  visited.  The  ruins  of  the  ancient 
city  of  Abydos,  claimed  to  be  the  cradle  of  civilization,  greatly 
interested  the  party.  Then  up  the  river  to  the  ruins  of  Thebes, 
once  a  city  of  three  hundred  thousand  inhabitants,  stretched  for 
eight  miles  along  either  side  of  the  river,  the  party  went.  Euins 
on  ruins  everywhere !  The  statue  of  Memnon,  the  temple  of 
Medinet  Haboo,  the  avenue  of  the  Sphinxes,  and  Karnac  with 
its  wilderness  of  ruins,  were  visited. 

From  Egypt  to  the  Holy  Land  they  go,  and  instead  of  our 
general  being  allowed  to  enter  Jerusalem  thoughtfully  and  in 
quiet,  he  was  met  with  an  army  with  banners  giving  him  a  great 
welcome.  From  Palestine  to  Damascus,  still  ancient  and  beau- 
tiful, on  to  Constantinople,  Greece  and  Italy,  and  then  to  the 
Paris  exhibition,  the  party  went. 

Two  weeks  in  Holland,  then  to  Germany,  King  William  and 
Bismarck,  to  Norway  and  Sweden,  and  Russia,  to  be  cordially 
received  by  the  Czar,  and  then  hurried  to  Spain,  makes  travel  a 
campaign  indeed. 

A  French  ship  carried  the  general  and  party  to  Egypt  again, 
and  a  Red  Sea  steamer  took  them  to  India,  that  wonder-world 
of  the  east.  Hindustan,  Siam,  and  then  China  and  Japan  were 
taken  in  the  trip,  and  the  strange,  ancient,  curious  things  they 
hold.  But  Japan  was  delightful,  fraternal,  profoundly  respect- 
ful, and  held  our  party  long  in  a  charmed  life.  Then  the  "City 
of  Tokio"  took  them  across  the  Pacific  to  San  Francisco. 

Soon  followed  a  presidential  election,  and  a  strong  movement 


440  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

among  General  Grant's  friends,  which  many  supposed  he  was 
party  to,  and  in  relation  to  which  this  trip  had  been  planned,  to 
make  him  president  for  a  third  term.  But  the  general  suspicion 
that  it  was  a  "ring"  movement  defeated  it.  Not  General  Grant 
so  much  as  the  friends  that  clung  to  him,  was  feared. 

The  life  of  Grant,  like  that  of  Lincoln,  is  a  wonder  life.  It 
burst  suddenly  upon  the  world  and  strangely  captivated  it.  By 
and  by,  when  its  mistakes  sink  more  out  of  sight,  and  its  real 
work  and  worth  to  the  country  rise  into  full  view,  it  will  be  a 
wonder-chapter  in  the  history  of  the  republic. 

GENERAL   GRANT   AND   HIS    FRIENDS. 

General  Grant  made  strong  friends.  He  was  himself  a  strong 
friend.  Being  honest  and  genuine  himself,  he  accepted  proffers 
of  friendship  for  what  they  seemed.  This  sincerity  and  hearti- 
ness led  him  to  put  confidence  sometimes  in  unworthy  men.  In 
his  second  term  of  the  presidency  he  trusted  offices  and  honors 
with  men  who  reflected  discredit  upon  him  and  his  administra- 
tion. His  administration  waned  in  popularity  and  his  party 
weakened  by  the  bad  men  he  allowed  to  gain  place  in  his  confi- 
dence and  appointment.  He  went  into  power  on  a  tidal  wave 
of  popular  approval ;  he  left  the  presidential  chair  with  the 
opposite  party  so  vigorous  that  it  claimed  the  election  for  its 
candidate,  Mr.  Samuel  J.  Tilden. 

After  his  retirement  he  allowed  his  unwise  friends  to  flaunt 
his  honors  round  the  world  in  a  journey  that  was  very  unlike  the 
modest  man  that  he  was,  and  then  press  his  name  for  a  third 
term.  Still  later,  he  fell  into  the  wiles  of  a  financial  sharper  by 
the  name  of  Ward,  a  pretended  banker,  who  on  the  prestige  of 
Grant's  great  name,  built  up  his  bank  and  swindled  him  out  of 
all  he  was  worth,  and  despoiled  his  sons,  and  others,  whom  he 
induced  to  invest  in  his  swindling  concern  of  large  amounts  of 
money.  Ward  was  arrested  and  imprisoned,  and  the  robbed 
Grant  and  his  family  left  to  the  mercy  of  the  county,  which 
loved  him  notwithstanding  his  human  frailties.  General  Grant 
put  all  he  had  into  the  hands  of  Ward  with  a  childlike  confi- 
dence, and  accepted  for  a  time  unusual  returns  as  the  fruit  of 


ULYSSES   S.    GRANT.  441 

Ward's  .great  financial  ability.  So  did  he  implicitly  trust  those 
who  claimed  to  be  his  friends.  It  was  one  of  his  great  weak- 
nesses. 

GENERAL   GRANT   IN    LITERATURE. 

General  Grant  had  always  been  held  a  silent  man.  His  let- 
ters had  been  few  and  brief.  Their  terseness  had  often  had 
point  and  power,  but  he  had  not  been  suspected  of  literary  abil- 
ity. His  enforced  poverty  compelled  him  to  do  something  for 
the  support  of  himself  and  family.  Opportunity  offered  in  a 
magazine  for  a  series  of  articles  on  his  great  battles,  in  connec- 
tion with  a  like  series  on  the  same  battles  by  leading  confederate 
generals.  The  articles  were  immensely  popular.  Their  success 
emboldened  him  to  prepare  personal  memoirs  of  his  career, 
which  he  entered  upon  at  once,  and  prosecuted  with  industry 
and  vigor. 

About  the  time  he  began  this  work  he  began  to  feel  the 
symptoms  of  a  disease  in  the  back  part  of  his  mouth,  which 
proved  to  be 

A  CANCER, 

caused,  as  many  believed,  by  intemperate  smoking,  to  which  he 
had  long  adicted.  "Grant  and  his  cigar"  had  become  a  com- 
mon phrase  applied  to  him.  It  may  be  that  the  intemperate 
habits  of  his  early  manhood  had  been  concentrated  upon  this  as 
a  permanent  indulgence  which  he  did  not  resist. 

The  cancer  and  the  memoir  progressed  together.  As  his 
strength  failed  his  industry  and  literary  enthusiasm  increased. 
He  wrote  daily,  as  he  was  able,  while  the  progress  of  the  disease 
was  daily  reported  in  the  press  of  the  whole  country,  and  from 
time  to  time  the  progress  of  the  memoir.  Great  sympathy  was 
felt  for  him  and  great  interest  in  the  work  of  his  painful  pen. 
The  great  soldier  suffering  unto  death,  yet  daily  bending  over 
his  great  task  to  supply  the  wants  of  his  family,  soon  to  be  left 
without  his  care,  was  a  pathetic  scene,  to  which  the  people 
of  the  whole  country  looked  with  sympathetic  and  almost  bleed- 
ing hearts.  The  waiting  and  watching  were  painful.  The 
sweeter  and  greater  traits  of  the  man  came  out  more  and  more 
as  he  worked  and  suffered,  and  the  people  came  the  more 


442  OUR 

and  more  to  love  and  honor  him.  Without  a  murmur,  with 
a  courage  and  fortitude  greater  than  he  had  ever  shown  on 
the  field  of  battle,  he  fought  out  this  last  fight  of  his  earthly 
life  and  won  a  more  glorious  victory  than  ever  before.  It  was  a 
victory  of  magnanimity,  love,  faith  and  every  noble  soul-quality. 
He  continued  his  writings  till  a  few  days  before  his  death,  when 
he  completed  his  personal  memoir  and  sent  the  manuscript  to 
the  press,  for  which  the  country  was  waiting  with  sympathetic 
anxiety. 

GENERAL   GRANT'S   DEATH. 

His  disease  continued  its  steady  course,  causing,  him  great 
suffering,  an  utter  loss  of  his  voice,  and  his  death  on  the  twenty- 
third  of  July,  1885.  He  died  on  Mount  McGregor,  north  of 
Saratoga,  where  he  had  been  taken  in  the  early  summer  to  avoid 
the  heat  of  New  York  city,  where  he  lived.  While  the  whole 
country  mourned,  it  felt  a  sense  of  relief  in  the  thought  that 
the  great  sufferer  was  beyond  pain.  The  demonstrations  of  sor- 
row and  respect  were  among  the  greatest  in  this  or  any  other 
country.  Services  of  respect  were  held  in  almost  every  city,  vil- 
lage and  hamlet  in  the  country,  and  in  many  foreign  capitals  and 
cities.  Extended  notices  of  his  career  appeared  in  papers,  mag- 
azines and  books.  His  funeral  service  in  New  York,  on  the 
eighth  of  August,  was  attended  by  an  immense  throng  of  the 
people  from  far  and  near. 

He  was  buried  in  Eiverside  Park,  New  York  city,  in  a  tomb 
made  between  his  death  and  burial,  by  the  side  of  which  a 
national  monument  is  to  be  built.  It  is  said  that  the  funeral 
cost  a  million  of  dollars.  It  is  certain  that  his  successes  and  mis- 
fortunes had  made  him,  to  an  eminent  degree,  a  people's  man. 
He  had  even,  so  won  upon  the  respect  of  the  old  confederate  sol- 
diers, and  the  people  of  the  South,  that  they  joined  in  the  great 
service  o1  sorrow  and  respect;  so  that  the  North  and  South 
together  cemented  anew  the  bonds  of  the  Union  in  a  common 
and  hallowed  love  for  the  great  soldier,  who  had  done  so  much 
to  save  it. 


CHAPTER  XX. 


EUTHEEFOED  BIECHAED  HAYES. 

NINETEENTH  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

ERHAPS  few  presidents  have  been  more  truly  repre- 
sentatives of  the  American  people  than  Rutherford  B. 
Hayes.  He  was  not  remarkable  in  any  sense  —  not  a 
remarkable  scholar,  or  orator,  or  lawyer,  or  general,  or 
governor,  or  president ;  but  did  everything  he  undertook 
so  well,  and  filled  every  place  to  which  he  was  elected  with 
such  signal  good  sense,  that  he  disarmed  criticism  aad  gained 
approval.  He  was  nothing  astonishing  or  captivating,  but  was 
simply  a  strong,  good-sensed,  practical  man  —  as  Avas  said  of 
another,  "  he  was  every  inch  a  man."  He  was  rounded,  full  of 
the  meat  of  manliness,  genuine  in  every  phase  of  his  ability  and 
character.  He  was  sure,  and  applied  to  his  methods  the  rules  of 
practical  common  sense.  His  every  day  and  everywhere  practical 
qualities  made  him  a  representative  man.  The  common  sense 
and  common  heart  of  the  people  he  answered  to  and  illustrated. 
He  was  not  the  marvelous  product  of  a  great  period,  nor  the 
apostle  of  a  great  cause,  nor  the  outgrowth  of  a  great  revolution, 
but  was  a  naturally  produced  man  of  American  society,  reared 
by  the  rules  of  good  living,  and  educated  in  the  common, 
orderly  way. 

Being  reared  by  his  mother,  as  his  father  died  before  his 
birth,  he  was  from  the  beginning,  under  her  wise  and  healthful 
influence,  Avithout  any  counter  influence  from  paternal  misjudsr- 
rnents  or  misleading  habits  or  practices. 

443 


444  OUR    PRESIDENTS. 

It  is  common  for  men  to  be  less  thoughtful  about  the 
thousand  little  things  that  go  to  influence  a  boy  and  to  make  up 
his  character,  than  for  women.  Most  men  have  opinions  and 
practices  of  which  it  would  be  better  for  boys  to  know  nothing. 

Many  fathers  lead  their  boys  in  the  way  of  things  of  which 
they  ought  to  be  kept  clear.  Most  fathers  are  skeptical  about 
the  need  of  so  much  guarding,  cautioning  and  training,  as 
mothers  are  impelled  by  their  motherly  instincts  to  constantly 
use  in  rearing  their  boys.  Fathers  often  counteract  the  influence 
of  mothers  over  their  boys.  Mothers  usually  give  to  fathers  too 
much  the  direction  of  their  boys,  and  are  less  mothers  to  them 
than  they  would  be  if  they  had  no  fathers.  In  the  case  of  Mr. 
Hayes,  the  mother  had  her  full  power  over  him  from  the 
beginning,  without  any  counteracting  influence ;  and  the  har- 
mony and  completeness  of  his  character  and  life  are  due  not  a 
little  to  this  fact.  He  is  another  instance  of  the  widow's  son 
rising  to  life's  heights  of  usefulness  and  honor.  His  successor, 
Mr.  Garfield,  is  another. 

«  BIRTH   AND   BOYHOOD. 

Eutherford  Birchard  Hayes  was  born  in  Delaware,  Ohio, 
October,  1822.  His  father  was  Eutherford  Hayes,  who  came 
from  Vermont  in  1817.  The  hardiness  and  energy  of  the  Ver- 
mont quality  of  men  went  into  this  Ohio  Eutherford,  at  the 
beginning.  He  started  into  life  with  a  good  ancestral 
momentum  behind  him.  Such  a  start  is  about  half  the  making 
of  a  man.  His  mother  was  Sophia  Birchard.  Strictly  speaking, 
Eutherford  was  an  Ohio  Vermonter.  He  had  Vermont  blood 
and  qualities  on  Ohio  soil.  His  father  died  before  Eutherford 
was  born ;  so  that  his  whole  early  training  was  given  him  by  his 
mother.  This  was  essentially  Vermont  training.  She  was 
reared  in  Vermont,  and  had  the  notions  that  prevailed  there  in 
her  day,  which  were  strict,  leaning  strongly  to  the  puritanic. 
The  moral  atmosphere  into  which  Eutherford  was  born  was 
strong  with  positive  qualities,  and  especially  vigorous  in  the 
high  moral  forces.  All  the  first  years  of  his  life'he  breathed 
this  atmosphere,  which  was  oxygenated  by  his  mother's  inward 


RUTHERFORD   B.  HAYES.  445 

life.  Out  of  this  he  went  into  the  common  school,  where  he 
enjoyed  its  opportunities  through  the  whole  period  of  his  boy- 
hood. A  public  school  is  a  school  in  several  senses ;  it  trains 
the  mind ;  it  sharpens  the  common  sense  in  its  close  intercourse 
with  all  kinds  of  children;  it  gives  a  good  education  in  the 
science  of  human  nature  practically  applied ;  in  its  feats  of 
agility  and  strength,  it  develops  the  physical;  and  tries  the 
temper  and  disposition  in  many  ways.  Fortunate  is  the  child 
trained  early  in  a  good  common  school.  In  a  republic,  the 
common  school  is  one  of  the  great  sources  of  self-reliant  char- 
acter and  efficient,  practical  judgment. 

THE   YOUTH   AND   STUDENT. 

From  the  common  school  our  young  Hayes  went  into  Kenyon 
college,  Ohio,  where  he  went  through  the  prescribed  course  and 
graduated  in  1842,  a  little  before  he  was  twenty  years  old. 
Here  was  good  fortune  again ;  for  a  small  college,  where  the 
classes  are  so  small  that  each  student  comes  directly  under  the 
influence  of  the  professors;  where  acquaintance  becomes  general 
and  much  of  the  family  feeling  is  engendered,  and  life-long 
friendships  are  formed,  exerts  a  positive  and  powerful  influence 
for  good  over  a  manly  and  aspiring  young  mind.  The  college  is 
the  efficient  training  school  of  the  youthful  and  ambitious  mind. 
Many  grand  and  brilliant  men  do  well  without  it,  but  they  feel 
sorrow  over  its  loss  all  the  years  of  their  manhood.  The  ques- 
tion of  its  vast  importance  is  settled  by  a  wide  experience  in  all 
civilized  countries. 

All  the  way,  thus  far,  young  Hayes  has  been  moving  along 
the  best  lines  of  ascending  life.  In  this  good  and  almost  sure 
foundation  everything  has  been  well  done.  He  is  well  born, 
well  bred,  well  educated. 

He  went  from  college  into  the  law  office  of  Thomas  Sparrow, 
Esq.,  of  Columbus,  as  a  student  at  law.  In  1843  he  entered 
the  law  school  of  Harvard  university,  and  studied  two  years 
under  Judge  Story  and  Professor  Greenleaf,  and  was  admitted 
to  the  bar  in  March,  1845.  Here  was  a  symmetrical  and  full 
education,  like  the  man  and  life  that  followed  it.  There  was 


446  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

no  attempt  to  skip  the  hard  places,  or  to  set  up  his  judgment 
against  the  experience  of  the  enlightened  ages  as  to  what  is  best 
in  an  educational  course,  or  to  take  a  short  cut  to  his  profession. 
He  took  the  old  well-beaten  way,  and  followed  it  steadily 
through  to  the  end. 

MR.    HATES  THE  LAWYER. 

He  was  now  nearly  twenty-three  years  old.  He  began  the 
practice  of  law  in  Lower  Sandusky,  now  Fremont,  in  Sandusky 
county,  Ohio.  Here  he  remained  till  1850,  doing  such  business 
and  getting  such  experience  as  come  to  a  young  lawyer  in  such 
places,  already  overrun  with  lawyers.  Not  satisfied  with  the 
outlook  here,  and  being  ambitious  of  a  larger  field,  he  moved  to 
Cincinnati.  These  first  years  in  a  profession  are  the  trying 
ones,  in  many  respects.  They  try  the  character,  ohe  judgment, 
the  ability  and  preparation.  They  are  not  yet  removed  from 
youthful  temptation  and  follies,  nor  free  from  the  misjudgments 
of  inexperience.  Mr.  Hayes  had  gone  safely  through  this  trying 
ordeal.  His  feet  were  planted  on  manhood's  gro  ind  without 
harm  to  his  heart,  character  or  life.  He  soon  grew  into  a 
reasonable  practice  in  his  new  field,  and  in  185G  was  an  unsuc- 
cessful candidate  for  judge  of  the  court  of  common  pleas.  In 
1859  he  was  chosen  city  solicitor,  to  fill  a  vacancy,  by  the  city 
council,  a  handsome  recognition  of  his  rising  capacity  and 
merit.  The  next  spring  the  people  elected  him  to  the  same 
office.  In  1851  he  lost  a  re-election  by  the  failure  of  the  repub- 
lican ticket. 

MR.  HAYES   THE   SOLDIER. 

Mr.  Hayes  early  identified  himself  with  the  republican  party. 
He  was  a  whig,  with  strong  anti-slavery  convictions  and  senti- 
ments, and  came  naturally  into  the  new  party.  He  took  an 
earnest  part  in  the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln  ;  and  when  rebellion 
began  to  defy  the  government  it  defied  him,  and  he  at  once 
offered  himself  to  the  governor  of  the  state  to  defend  the  govern- 
ment against  the  rebel  disunionists.  June  7.  1861,  Governor 
Dennison  appointed  him  major  of  the  twenty-third  Ohio  regi- 


RUTHERFORD   B.  HAYES.  44? 

ment  of  volunteer  infantry,  which  soon  after  went  into  duty  in 
West  Virginia.  In  September  General  Kosecrans, appointed  him 
Judge  Advocate  of  the  department  of  Ohio,  which  position  he 
held  about  two  months,  when  he  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of 
lieutenant-colonel.  In  this  capacity  he  commanded  the  twenty- 
third  regiment  during  the  early  campaign  in  West  Virginia  in 
1862,  and  in  the  latter  part  of  the  year  under  General  McClellan. 
In  the  sharp  battle  of  South  Mountain  he  was  wounded.  During 
this  year  he  was  appointed  colonel  of  the  seventy-ninth  Ohio 
regiment,  but  was  prevented  from  taking  the  command  on 
account  of  the  wound.  Before  he  was  able  to  go  to  the  seventy- 
ninth  he  was  appointed  colonel  of  the  twenty-third,  and  so 
remained  with  his  old  regiment. 

In  the  spring  of  1864  Colonel  Hayes  was  given  the  command 
of  a,  brigade  in  General  Crook's  army,  and  went  further  south 
with  a  view  to  cut  the  communications  between  Eichmond  and 
the  western  part  of  the  confederacy.  At  Cloyd  mountain  he 
stormed  the  enemy's  position  and  gained  an  important  victory. 
In  September,  1864,  his  command  was  enlarged  to  the  Kanawha 
division,  which  he  commanded  the  rest  of  the  year. 

While  leading  his  brigade  at  the  battle  of  Winchester,  his 
command  came  suddenly  to  a  morass  about  one  hundred  and  fifty 
feet  wide.  It  seemed  to  be  a  hinderance  to  their  passage  ;  but 
the  colonel  rode  in  till  his  horse  got  mired,  then  he  dismounted 
and  went  through  on  foot,  with  the  water  up  nearly  to  his  arms, 
his  men  following  in  resolute  determination  not  to  be  outdone 
by  their  colonel.  He  was  in  the  heat  of  this  whole  action,  but 
escaped  without  a  wound,  though  men  fell  thickly  all  about  him. 
He  led  his  brigade  in  the  battles  of  Berryville  and  Opequan. 
He  bore  a  conspicuous  part  under  General  Sheridan,  and  had 
command  of  a  division  in  the  battle  of  Cedar  Creek,  where  his 
horse  was  shot  under  him.  On  account  of  his  great  services  in 
this  and  the  battles  that  went  before  it  he  was  made  brigadier- 
general,  and  still  later  was  breveted  major-general  for  "bravery 
and  distinguished  services." 

The  Ohio  war  record  says*.  "He  had  three  horses  shot  under 
him,  and  was  four  times  wounded,  once  very  severely."  Hi3 


448  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

whole  war  record  was  one  of  a  brave  and  morally  earnest  soldier. 
He  did  not  enlist  for  glory,  but  to  put  down  the  rebellion  and 
save  the  country,  in  the  hope  that  slavery  would  go  down  in  the 
crash  of  the  rebellion.  He  was  among  the  first  to  enlist  and  the 
last  to  sheath  his  sword.  He  went  through  the  whole  war  ;  did 
noble  service  all  the  time ;  went  up  and  up  by  successive  pro- 
motions ;  made  no  failures ;  gained  many  victories,  and  made  it 
hard  for  rebellion  and  well  for  his  country  all  the  time.  His 
war  career  was  an  even  and  complete  one,  like  his  own  manhood. 
He  was  an  example  to  his  men,  an  honor  to  his  country,  and  a 
terror  to  rebellion. 

While  yet  in  the  field,  his  district  in  Cincinnati  elected  him 
to  Congress,  and  he  took  his  seat  December  4,  1865.  He  was 
re-elected  the  next  year.  In  Congress  he  was  not  a  noisy  but  a 
working  member,  and  served  his  country  with  the  same  fidelity 
that  he  had  in  the  field. 

GOVERNOR   HAYES. 

In  1867  Mr.  Hayes  was  elected  governor  of  Ohio.  He 
resigned  his  seat  in  Congress,  and  was  inaugurated  January  13, 
1868.  In  1869  he  was  re-elected.  These  elections  were  very 
hotly  contested,  and  the  forensic  power  of  Governor  Hayes  was 
well  attested.  The  great  questions  of  reconstruction,  negro 
suffrage,  finance,  etc.,  were  before  the  country.  It  was  a  great 
period  in  our  national  history  when  our  public  men  had  to  con- 
sider the  most  important  matters  of  political  economy,  and  when 
great  moral  questions  were  at  issue.  It  was  the  epoch  of  national 
reconstruction.  Since  the  revolution  no  other  so  important 
epoch  had  occurred.  All  that  went  into  the  constitution  and 
construction  and  life  of  the  nation  in  consequence  of  slavery  was 
now  to  be  eliminated.  The  evil  that  our  fathers  had  not  the 
moral  courage  to  put  away  must  now  be  cut  out  from  the  body 
politic  which  had  grown  a  hundred  years  with  the  evil  in  it.  It 
required  dextrous  surgery.  All  involved  in  the  issues  of  the  time 
came  into  discussion  before  the  people  of  Ohio  through  the 
candidates  for  governor.  Mr.  Hayes  proved  himself  master  of 
the  occasion.  A  fine  speaker,  he  comprehended  and  presented 


RtTHERFORD   B.  HAYES.  449 

the  issues  of  the  occasion  with  convincing  force.  His  clearness, 
his  fairness,  his  thorough  knowledge  of  the  subjects  he  treated, 
his  force  of  argument,  and,  above  all,  his  strong  moral  per- 
ceptions of  the  duties  of  the  hour,  made  his  canvasses  very 
influential  with  the  people.  They  were  significant  occasions  in 
the  history  of  Ohio.  And  they  had  somewhat  the  effect  with 
him  that  Mr.  Lincoln's  canvass  of  Illinois  had  upon  his  fortunes. 
They  were  heard  by  the  nation.  They  gave  him  a  national 
reputation.  They  were  discussions  of  the  great  interests  of  the 
nation,  and  bore  so  strongly  upon  humanity  and  the  enduring 
principles  of  right,  justice  and  honor,  that  they  won  for  him 
national  respect  and  confidence. 

In  1875,  for  the  third  time,  Mr.  Hayes  was  candidate  for 
governor,  and  in  the  meridian  of  his  strength  rehearsed  before 
the  people  of  Ohio  the  principles  involved  in  our  form  of  govern- 
ment and  the  possibilities  before  the  American  people.  The 
leading  issue  in  this  last  canvass  was  the  financial  one.  He 
argued  'for  the  resumption  of  specie  payment,  for  a  sound 
currency,  for  trade  and  commerce  based  on  just  principles,  for 
national  prosperity  built  upon  integrity  and  mutual  fairness. 
The  currency  was  so  disordered,  and  men's  minds  so  disordered 
with  it,  that  almost  a  craze  had  set  in  in  favor  of  cheap  money — 
congressional  promises  not  representing  any  value  nor  having 
any  specie  equivalent.  For  some  years  neither  banks  nor  govern- 
ment had  paid  specie  on  their  notes.  Business  had  prospered, 
had  even  inflated.  Some  thought  that  this  state  of  things 
could  go  on  indefinitely,  and  specie  might  be  remanded  to  per- 
petual imprisonment  or  be  used  for  mechanical  and  ornamental 
purposes.  It  took  great  discussion  to  lead  the  people  to  see  the 
need  of  the  resumption  of  specie  payment  and  a  currency  based 
on  specie,  Mr.  Hayes  took  an  active  part  in  this  discussion, 
and  did  much  to  secure  the  sound  conclusion  which  the  country 
finally  reached. 

Previous  to  this  last  election  for  governor,  Mr.  Hayes  had 
run  for  Congress  and  been  beaten,  giving  him  a  brief  respite 
from  public  life. 

But  this  canvass,  in  which  Mr.  Hayes  secured  an  election  as 


450  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

governor  for  the  third  time,  so  touched  national  issues,  and  w\. 
so  commended  by  the  better  judgment  of  the  nation,  that  he 
became  a  national  man,  and  was  looked  to  as  one  likely  to  be 
called  upon  to  serve  in  national  capacities. 

Mr.  Hayes  was  inaugurated  governor  the  third  time,  in  Jan- 
uary, 1876,  and  served  through  the  centennial  year  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence. 

The  republican  state  convention  of  that  year  met  in  March, 
and  recommended  the  name  of  Rutherford  B.  Hayes  to  the 
national  convention  as  the  candidate  for  the  presidency.  The 
national  republican  convention  met  in  that  year,  June  14,  at 
Cincinnati,  and  after  the  convention  was  organized,  June  15, 
ex-Governor  Noyes,  of  Ohio,  presented  the  name  of  Governor 
Hayes  as  Ohio's  choice  for  the  next  president.  He  received  the 
nomination,  and  the  national  canvass  in  his  behalf  was  a  very 
spirited  one.  Mr.  Tilden,  of  New  York,  Avas  the  democratic 
candidate. 

President  Grant  had  been  the  national  executive  eight  years. 
He  began  as  a  civil  service  reformer,  but  he  soon  fell  into  the 
good  graces,  and  then  into  the  hands  of  the  machine  rings,  that 
during  his  time,  held  *the  party  domination,  and,  under  their 
lead,  which  in  his  last  term  he  did  not  seem  to  try  to  resist,  the 
party  rapidly  lost  the  confidence  of  the  people.  Many  demo- 
crats, which,  during  the  war  and  after,  had  acted  with  the  repub- 
licans, went  back  and  voted  for  Tilden.  Many  republicans  got 
lukewarm,  and  lost  their  zeal,  fearing  that  corrupt  men  were 
getting  too  much  favor  from  the  leaders.  In  Grant's  eight 
years,  the  party  had  lost  moral  tone.  It  may  have  been  inevi- 
table is  a  consequence  of  war's  demoralization.  Incompetent 
and  often  demoralized  soldiers  claimed  leading  places  of  trust. 
Incompetency  and  defalcation  became  too  common.  Hence, 
though  the  republicans  had  been  overwhelmingly  triumphant, 
since  the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  they  now  had  so  lost  ground 
that  when  the  electoral  votes  came  to  be  counted,  there  were 
honest  doubts  as  to  who  should  be  counted  in.  There  had  been 
great  fraud  in  some  of  the  southern  states  in  forcibly  refusing 
negro  votes  and  in  maintaining  a  reign  of  terror  against  colored 


RUTHERFORD  B.  HATES.  451 

supremacy,  or  even  participation  in  elections.  In  the  uncer- 
tainty, confusion  and  indignation,  an  electoral  commission  wa& 
proposed  and  agreed  upon  to  go  to  the  states  where  fraud  and 
force  were  charged  as  having  been  used  at  the  election,  and 
inquire  into  the  facts  and  determine  what  electoral  votes  should 
be  counted.  This  commission  performed  its  duties,  and  by  its 
decision  Mr.  Hayes  was  counted  in. 

MR.    HAYES    AS   PRESIDENT. 

Mr.  Hayes  was  inaugurated  President  on  March  4,  1877. 
Not  before,  perhaps,  had  any  American  executive  taken  his 
seat  under  such  unfavorable  circumstances.  The  democrats 
generally  felt  that  their  candidate  had  received  a  majority  of 
the  popular  votes,  and  were  in  no  mood  to  be  pliable  subjects  of 
an  executive  who  had  gone  into  office  under  such  circumstances. 
To  their  credit,  it  must  be  said,  that  they  laid  nothing  in  Presi- 
dent Hayes'  way.  Much  as  they  scolded,  they  behaved  well. 
Much  as  their  leaders  were  disappointed,  they  acted  the  part  of 
men.  They  had  agreed  to  the  electoral  commission,  and  sub- 
mitted with  manly  grace  to  its  decision,  though  they  generally 
thought  it  was  not  right. 

Our  republican  institutions  have  received  few  severer  shocks 
than  on  that  occasion.  There  have  been  many  revolutions  on 
less  occasions.  We  may  all  feel  safer  and  more  in  the  right  in 
our  devotion  to  popular  government,  because  our  citizens  so 
considerately  bore  themselves  in  peace  through  that  emergency. 

In  his  letter  of  acceptance  of  the  nomination,  Mr.  Hayes  had 
said  :  "Believing  that  the  restoration  of  the  civil  service  to  the 
system  established  by  Washington,  and  followed  by  the  early 
Presidents,  can  be  best  accomplished  by  an  executive  who  is 
under  no  temptation  to  use  the  patronage  of  his  office  to  promote 
his  own  re-election,  I  desire  to  perform  what  I  regard  as  a  duty, 
in  stating  now  my  inflexible  purpose,  if  elected,  not  to  be  a 
candidate  for  election  to  a  second  term." 

This  explicit  statement  was  believed  by  the  country.  His 
public  service  in  the  army  and  in  Ohio  had  taught  the  people 
that  what  he  said  he  meant.  The  defeated  party  knew  that  a 


452  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

fair  chance  to  vote  again  would  be  open  to  them  in  four  years, 
when  a  new  candidate  would  oppose  them.  They  knew  also  the 
honorable,  generous  and  truthful  man  who  was  to  be  president, 
and  doubtless  many  had  no  doubt  of  a  good  administration  at 
his  hands.  All  things  considered,  with  such  a  man  they  had 
nothing  to  fear. 

In  his  letter  of  acceptance,  he  had  also  announced  his  belief 
in  civil  service  reform.  He  said :  "  The  reform  should  be 
thorough,  radical,  complete.  We  should  return  to  the  prin- 
ciples and  practice  of  the  founders  of  the  government,  supplying 
by  legislation  when  needed,  that  which  was  formerly  the  estab- 
lished custom.  They  neither  expected  nor  desired  from  the 
public  officer  any  partisan  service.  They  meant  that  public 
officers  should  owe  their  whole  service  to  the  government  and 
the  people."  He  pledged  himself  to  these  principles.  The 
whole  country  knew  that  he  would  stand  by  these  statements. 
Then  what  had  any  party  to  fear  ?  His  letter  of  acceptance, 
which  covered  the  whole  ground,  was  an  assurance  to  the  whole 
country  that  his  would  be  a  sound  and  useful  administration. 
He  gave  as  truly  a  national  administration  as  a  man  elected  by  a 
party  well  can,  and  his  party  secured  a  revival  of  its  old  strength 
therefrom,  so  that  its  next  candidate  was  elected  triumphantly. 
His  administration  closed  with  general  good  feeling. 

MR.  HATES'  MARRIAGE  AND  FAMILY. 

Mr.  Hayes  was  married  December  20,  1852,  to  Miss  Lucy 
Webb,  of  Delaware,  Ohio,  whom  he  first  met  while  a  young 
lawyer  of  Cincinnati,  at  the  Delaware  Sulphur  Springs.  She 
was  at  that  time  a  member  of  the  Wesleyan  Female  College,  of 
Cincinnati. 

The  marriage  proved  most  happy ;  and  to  it  is  attributed  by 
many  the  uniform  success  of  Mr.  Hayes  in  every  position,  and 
the  harmony  and  efficiency  of  his  life.  She  has  been  a  help- 
meet indeed,  and  has  won  world-wide  praise  for  herself  as  well 
as  for  the  help  she  has  given  him.  She  is  of  excellent 
parentage;  finely  reared  and  educated;  a  sincere  member  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  church ;  healthy  in  body  and  mind ; 


RUTHERFORD   B.  HAYES.  453 

cheerful,  and  a  lover  of  the  beautiful,  but  simple  in  her  tastes 
and  strong  in  her  purposes  and  sense  of  duty. 

They  have  had  eight  children,  five  of  whom  still  live  to  make 
glad  their  home  circle. 

While  Mr.  Hayes  was  governor  of  Ohio  his  wife  contributed 
not  a  little  to  the  harmony  and  efficiency  of  his  official  success. 
She  was  the  happy  and  salutary  center  of  a  social  circle  and 
influence  which  made  the  executive  mansion  the  promoter  of 
good-will  and  all  good  offices.  She  took  an  active  interest  in 
state  and  local  charities,  in  her  church  and  the  community  about 
her,  which  brought  a  harvest  of  confidence  and  good-will,  not 
only  to  herself,  but  to  him.  In  the  army  she  was  much  with 
him  —  was  called  the  mother  of  his  regiment,  and  won  to  him 
much  good  influence. 

Mrs.  Hayes'  administration  in  the  White  House  was  as 
symmetrical  and  harmonious  as  his  in  the  executive  chair.  She 
carried  her  own  simple  and  hearty  tastes  into  her  home  life  and 
receptions  there,  and  ordered  all  her  conduct  by  her  clear 
Christian  judgment,  not  asking  what  had  been  or  would  be  done, 
but  only  what  she  thought  most  fitting  for  a  Christian  woman 
in  the  executive  mansion  of  the  nation  to  do.  All  falsity  was 
banished,  and  the  president's  home  was  just  what  it  had  always 
been,  only  it  was  in  Washington  and  the  White  House.  She  was 
happy  here,  as  she  was  everywhere,  and  kept  away  from  him 
many  an  annoyance,  complaint  and  trouble. 

When  President  Hayes  got  to  Washington  he  began  to  see 
at  once  the  evil  effects  of  intoxicating  drinks  on  many  men  in 
high  places.  It  soon  became  so  apparent  to  him  that  he  resolved 
on  an  example  of  total  abstinence  at  the  executive  house.  In 
this  he  had  the  grateful  support  of  Mrs.  Hayes.  From  his  own 
statement  it  is  to  be  inferred  that  this  was  his  movement,  know- 
ing, of  course,  that  it  would  meet  with  her  heartiest  approval. 

No  occupants  of  the  White  House  ever  more  graced  it  with 
personal  agreeableness  or  ease  and  animation  of  manners.  Of 
elegant  forms,  fine  features,  healthful  and  happy  bodies  and 
spirits,  they  were  pronounced  by  a  long  resident  of  Washington 


454  OUR    PRESIDENTS. 

"  the  finest  looking  type  of  man  and  woman  that  I  have  seen 
take  up  their  abode  in  the  White  House." 

It  has  often  been  said  that  there  has  been  no  purer  adminis- 
tration of  the  American  government  than  that  of  President 
Hayes.  Its  effect  on  the  country  was  healing  and  happy.  In 
no  place  in  this  country  is  real  virtue,  judgment  and  high  senti- 
ment so  beneficial  as  in  the  executive  mansion.  They  are  a 
benediction  on  the  whole  country.  They  permeate  society  and 
give  strength  to  every  good  cause.  Our  best  men  and  women 
are  needed  for  that  highest  place  in  our  free  society. 

It  is  a  cause  of  profound  thankfulness  that  in  the  first 
hundred  years  of  our  national  existence  so  many  grand  men  and 
women  have  been  elevated  to  this  highest  place.  It  has  been 
greatly  honored  by  many  of  those  who  have  occupied  it.  They 
have,  without  exception,  been  men  of  ability  and  commanding 
personal  power.  Their  deficiencies  have  been  chiefly  in  the 
moral  qualities.  Not  that  any  bad  men  have  been  so  elevated, 
but  that  some  have  risen  to  this  place  as  successful  politicians, 
as  men  of  strong  minds  and  ambitions,  without  any  corre- 
spondingly great  moral  purposes.  A  strong  moral  equipment  is 
an  absolute  necessity  for  a  great  president  or  a  greatly  successful 
administration. 

THE   HATES  HOME. 

At  the  close  of  his  very  successful  administration,  ex-Presi- 
dent Hayes  retired  to  his  family  home  in  Fremont,  Ohio.  It  is 
on  Birchard  avenue,  named  for  Sardis  Birchard,  uncle  and 
guardian  of  Mr.  Hayes.  The  house  was  built  by  Mr.  Birchard 
in  1860.  It  is  in  the  center  of  some  thirty  acres  of  woodland. 
The  house  is  brick,  two  stories  high,  with  wide  verandas.  The 
estate  of  this  uncle  came  to  Mr.  Hayes,  placing  him  out  of 
want's  way.  In  quiet  and  intellectual  retirement  ex-President 
and  Mrs.  Hayes  give  themselves  to  the  social,  charitable  and 
religious  duties  of  the  society  about  them,  honored  and  happy 
in  their  domestic  and  neighborly  comfort. 


CHAPTER  XXI 


JAMES    ABEAM    GAEFIELD. 

TWENTIETH  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 
ANCESTRY. 

N  the  life  and  character  of  James  A.  Garfield  there  is 
much  to  instruct  and  stir  every  reader.  No  one  can 
help  feeling  that  he  is  reading  of  greatness,  worth  and 
0"  power.  There  is  a  fineness,  a  stalwartness,  a  rich  nobility 
so  winning  and  commanding  that  his  common  acts  seem 
invested  with  a  manly  charm.  "With  a  history  reaching 
back  in  his  ancestry  to  England,  Wales,  Germany  and  France, 
covering  nearly  the  whole  colonial  history  of  America,  rising 
into  prominence  in  the  first  century  of  the  United  States,  and 
in  his  person  to  the  highest  place  in  the  gift  of  the  people,  he 
becomes  a  character  to  attract  and  hold  the  interest  of  all  who 
read  of  him.  He  seems  to  have  been  a  sort  of  reservoir,  into 
which  several  ancestral  streams  poured  their  choicest  waters. 
In  his  own  case  we  are  reminded  of  what  he  said  in  one  of  his 
great  public  addresses:  "  Who  shall  estimate  the  effect  of  those 
latent  forces  enfolded  in  the  spirit  of  a  new  born  child — forces 
that  may  date  back  centuries  and  find  their  origin  in  the  life, 
thought  and  deeds  of  remote  ancestors — forces,  the  germs  of 
which  enveloped  in  the  awful  mystery  of  life,  have  been  trans- 
mitted silently  from  generation  to  generation  and  never  perish! 
All-cherishing  nature,  provident  and  unforgetting,  gathers  up  all 
these  fragments,  that  nothing  be  lost,  but  that  all  may  ulti- 

455 


45G  OUR    PRESIDENTS. 

mately  reappear  in  new  combinations.  Each  new  life  is  thus 
the  'heir  of  all  the  ages,'  the  possessor  of  qualities  which  only 
the  events  of  life  can  unfold."  This  fine  recognition  of  the  law 
of  heredity  is  illustrated  in  him.  And  another  has  said: 
"Nine  tenths  of  a  man's  genius  is  hereditary.  The  inherited 
portion  may  appear  large,  but  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  only 
possibilities  are  inherited,  and  that  not  one  min  in  a  million 
reaches  the  limit  of  his  possibilities." 

Mr.  Garfield  was  of  English  descent,  with  a  vein  of  Welsh 
blood.  One  of  the  family  ancestors  married  into  a  German 
family,  bringing  in  a  current  of  Teutonic  blood. 

Edward  Garfield,  from  Cheshire,  England,  settled  in  Water- 
town,  Massachusetts,  in  1636.  Erom  him  down  through  several 
generations  of  hardy  and  patriotic  men  came  Solomon  Garfield, 
the  great-grand-father  of  James  A.  Garfield.  In  this  line  was 
one  Abraham  Garfield,  who  was  in  the  battles  of  Lexington  and 
Concord,  in  1775.  They  were  a  strong,  heroic,  industrious  class 
of  men ;  resolute,  vigorous  and  common-sensed.  Solomon 
Garfield  was  in  the  revolutionary  war,  did  faithful  service  to  the 
end,  and  soon  after  removed  to  Otsego  county,  New  York,  where 
he  opened  a  small  farm  in  the  forest  and  reared  his  family  of 
five  children.  Thomas  was  the  oldest  of  the  family,  and  was 
the  grand-father  of  James  A.  Garfield.  He  married  Asenath 
Hill,  and  in  December,  1799,  their  son  Abram  was  born.  Abram 
Garfield  was  a  man  of  fine  physique,  tall,  broad-shouldered, 
sinewy,  and  very  active.  Many  traditions  are  in  the  family  of 
his  feats  of  strength  and  agility.  Thomas  died  just  at  the 
opening  of  this  century,  leaving  Abram  to  fight  his  own  battle 
of  life. 

Abram  followed  the  setting  sun  to  the  Western  Reserve, 
Ohio,  where  he  built  him  a  cabin,  cleared  his  patch,  and  began 
life  in  the  wilderness. 

The  maternal  ancestry  of  James  A.  Garfield  was  still  more 
marked  in  strong  characteristics;  but  they  were  mental.  On 
the  father's  side  there  was  great  bodily  power;  on  the  mother's 
side,  great  power  of  mind.  His  mother  was  Eliza  Ballon,  born 
in  Richmond,  New  Hampshire,  and  was  a  relative  of  Reverend 


JAMES   ABRAM    GARFIELD.  457 

Ilosea  Ballon,  born  in  the  same  town,  the  distinguished  pioneer 
of  Universalism.  Several  Universalist  clergymen  of  the  same 
family  connection  have  been  noted  for  learning,  piety  and 
Christian  zeal.  Honorable  Maturin  Ballon,  member  of  Congress 
from  Rhode  Island,  is  of  the  same  family  and  the  same  devotion 
to  moral  and  religious  life.  The  father  of  Ilosea  Ballou  was  a 
Baptist  clergyman.  "  The  Ballous  were  a  race  of  preachers," 
says  one  of  the  biographers  of  Garfield.  Probably  no  family  in 
America  ever  gave  the  world  so  many  strong  and  eminent  clergy- 
men. "  One  of  them,  himself  a  preacher,  had  four  sons  who 
were  ministers  of  the  gospel,  and  one  of  these  had  three  sons  who 
were  preachers,  and  one  of  these  had  a  son  and  grandson  who 
were  preachers." 

The  family  descended  from  Maturin  Ballou,  who  was  a 
Huguenot  and  fled  from  persecution  in  France  in  1685,  and 
settled  in  Cumberland,  Rhode  Island.  Here  a  church  was  built, 
which  still  stands,  called  the  "Elder  Ballou  Meeting  House," in 
which  great  numbers  of  the  Ballous  have  preached.  Of  this 
family  was  Eliza  Ballou.  From  her  side  her  gifted  son  inherited 
his  bright  intellectuality,  his  strong  moral  and  religious  sensibil- 
ities, his  oratory,  love  of  study,  his  taste,  suavity,  and  resolution 
in  the  performance  of  duty.  Such  a  union  as  that  of  Abram 
Garfield  and  Eliza  Ballou  is  prophetic  of  great  possibilities  in 
some  of  their  children. 

BIRTH,  BOYHOOD   AND    YOUTH. 

James  Abram  Garfield  was  born  in  Orange,  Cuyahoga 
county,  Ohio,  November  19,  1831.  He  was  the  youngest  of  four 
children,  Mehetabel,  Thomas,  Mary  and  James.  His  parents 
had  been  in  Ohio  only  long  enough  to  get  well  started  in  their 
forest  home  when  he  came  to  cheer  it.  The  log  house,  a  little 
cleared  land,  a  few  acres  fenced  in  and  a  crop  well  grown  pre- 
pared the  way  for  his  coming. 

In  May,  1833,  when  James  was  eighteen  months  old,  a  fire 
broke  out  in  the  woods  near  the  Garfield  settlement,  which 
threatened  to  destroy  all  their  improvements.  The  few  neigh- 
bors fought  it  with  desperation.  Abram  Garfield,  after  a  long 


458  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

contest  with  the  fire,  rested,  only  to  take  a  severe  cold,  which 
brought  on  a  congestion  of  the  lungs,  of  which,  in  a  few  days, 
he  died. 

This  was  a  fearful  blow  to  this  now  apparently  helpless 
family.  The  little  farm  was  only  partly  paid  for ;  only  a  little 
of  it  was  cleared ;  Thomas,  the  oldest  boy,  was  but  ten  years 
old;  the  afflicted  mother's  hands  seemed  to  be  tied  with  strings 
of  care  to  her  little  flock.  How  could  she  feed  and  clothe  thpm 
and  pay  the  debt  on  the  farm,  so  as  to  hold  it  as  a  home.  The 
neighbors  saw  no  way  but  for  her  to  break  up  and  scatter  her 
children  among  relatives  and  neighbors,  who  would  take  them 
rather  than  see  them  suffer.  But  she  said  "No."  She  believed 
in  the  good  Heavenly  Father's  providence  over  her  and  her 
dependent  charge.  She  believed  in  love  and  duty,  trust  and 
hope,  and  she  resolutely  determined  to  keep  her  children  to 
grow  up  together  and  love  and  do  for  each  other.  With  a  wis- 
dom and  fortitude  found  only  in  a  mother's  love,  she  faced  the 
hard  task  before  her,  and  with  a  bereft  and  lonely  heart,  put 
her  life's  toil  and  care  into  the  ever-prayerful  work  that  had 
come  to  her  hands. 

Thomas  was  her  stay  and  help  and  comfort.  Boy  as  he  was, 
he  had  to  be  the  man  of  the  house  and  barn  and  farm.  The 
crops  were  to  be  tended  and  harvested  that  season ;  the  stock 
cared  for;  the  wocx  chopped ;  provisions  made  for  winter ;  all 
the  little  chores  done ;  the  milling  and  the  business  of  the 
family  attended  to,  and  all  by  a  ten-year-old  boy.  But  Thomas 
did  not  falter.  He  did  it  all,  save  what  his  sisters  and  his 
mother  could  help.  They  worked  and  lived  and  loved  together, 
and  the  laughing,  growing,  fat  and  healthy  baby  was  the  joy  of 
them  all.  Many  stories  are  told  of  this  baby  as  peculiarly  bright 
and  forward,  but  it  is  altogether  probable  that  he  was  much 
like  others  of  his  kind,  and  gave  as  few  premonitions  of  his 
coming  greatness.  Babies  are  not  often  great.  But  one  thing 
is  certain,  that  Thomas  Garfield  must  have  his  full  share  of 
credit  for  what  James  came  to  be.  He  was  father  and  brother 
in  one  to  the  orphan  babe,  and  led  him  on  to  youth  and  man- 
hood with  a  noble  and  self-sacrificing  fidelity.  Few  sights  in 


JAMES   ABRAM    GARFIELD.  459 

this  world  are  more  tenderly  beautiful  than  such  a  saddened 
yet  chastened  family. 

In  due  time  there  was  built  near  the  Garfield  home,  that 
marvelous  institution,  the  country  school-house,  and  James 
with  the  rest  went  to  be  initiated  into  its  mysteries.  It  is  said 
of  him  that  he  was  an  uneasy  little  scholar,  pestering  the 
teacher  out  of  her  wits,  in  the  effort  to  keep  him  still,  and  com- 
pelling her  at  last  to  go  to  his  mother  with  the  distressing  story 
that  he  was  doing  no  good  in  school.  What  should  she  do  ? 
And  yet  she  must  do  something ;  and  so  she  did  what  all  good 
mothers  do  in  such  cases — she  talked  to  him  out  of  her  mother 
heart,  and  he  went  to  school  the  next  day  resolved  to  "sit  as 
still  as  he  could." 

As  soon  as  able,  he  became  Thomas'  helper  on  the  little  farm 
and  a  producer  of  the  necessaries  of  life.  He  was  born  to  work, 
as  he  was  to  poverty. 

The  nearest  neighbor  was  a  family  of  Boyntons,  near  rela- 
tives, in  which  were  six  children,  which,  with  the  Garfields,  made 
a  merry  group.  Their  work  and  play,  studies  and  reading,  were 
had  together,  as  much  as  possible.  Of  books,  they  had  few,  but 
they  were  read  till  they  were  familiar.  The  older  children  in 
this  group  formed  a  "class  of  critics,"  to  watch  each  other's 
use  of  words  and  to  study  the  meaning  of  words  and  the  con- 
struction of  sentences.  James  always  thought  this  "class  of 
critics  "  was  of  great  help  to  him  in  giving  him  the  quality  of 
critical  observation  of  language. 

When  James  was  about  ten  years  old,  Thomas  went  to  Mich- 
igan to  earn  some  money  in  clearing  land,  and  when  he 
returned,  brought  seventy-five  dollars.  They  were  rich  now, 
they  thought,  and  Thomas  proposed  building  a  frame  house  for 
the  family.  On  this,  James  worked  and  took  his  first  lessons  in 
carpentry.  After  the  house  was  built,  he  worked  among  the 
neighbors  on  barns  and  out-buildings,  and  thus  became  quite  an 
adept  in  this  business.  While  at  this  work,  he  put  up  a  building 
for  a  potash-maker,  Avho  was  a  man  of  considerable  means  and 
business  for  that  vicinity,  who,  because  he  could  read  and  write 
and  keep  accounts,  proposed  to  give  James  fourteen  dollars  a 


460  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

month  to  become  his  clerk  and  general  helper.  This  looked  like 
wealth  coming  in  upon  him  like  an  avalanche.  One  day  while 
here,  one  of  the  women  of  the  family  spoke  to  him  as  a  servant, 
which  so  incensed  him  that  he  left  at  once.  He  was  no  slave, 
and  would  not  tolerate  such  insolence. 

In  his  sixteenth  summer,  he  engaged  to  cut  for  an  uncle,  a 
hundred  cords  of  wood  at  twenty-five  cents  a  cord,  which  job  he 
completed  in  due  time.  In  these  muscular,  self-denying,  and 
self-sharpening  pursuits,  James  spent  his  boyhood  and  youth. 
The  winter  school  was  his  opportunity  for  an  education. 

During  this  time,  the  subject  of  religion  was  presented  to  his 
young  mind,  by  the  Disciple  preachers,  who  were  urging  their 
views  with  great  persistency  in  that  region.  They  discussed  the 
subject  of  baptism  with  great  positiveness,  and  their  peculiarly 
literal  interpretations  of  scripture  were  incisive,  dogmatic, 
zealous  and  disputatious.  They  were  often  at  his  mother's,  and 
won  the  confidence  of  the  family.  James  became  a  "Disciple/' 
and.  was  thus  early  led  to  view  life  in  its  religious  aspects,  and 
to  shape  his  thoughts,  character  and  daily  life  under  the  light  of 
Christian  teachings. 

But  the  time  had  come  when  he  must  strike  out  for  some- 
thing definite  in  life.  He  had  read  some  of  Captain  Maryatt's 
sea  stories,  and  had  become  enamored  of  sea  life.  He  mused  on 
it  by  day  and  dreamed  of  it  at  night.  And  now  that  he  had 
become  old  enough  and  Lake  Erie  with  its  many  vessels  afforded 
him  a  chance,  he  saw  an  opportunity,  he  thought,  to  make  his 
vision  of  sea-going  life  a  reality.  His  mother  could  not  dissuade 
him  from  it,  and  with  a  heavy  heart  and  many  prayers  for  his 
safety,  she  fixed  him  off.  With  his  bundle  on  his  back  and  a 
few  dollars  in  his  pocket,  she  saw  him  depart  on  foot  for  Cleve- 
land, but  besought  him  again  as  he  left  her  to  get  employment 
on  land  if  possible. 

He  tried  many  places  but  found  no  open  door,  and  then 
went  down  among  the  vessels,  to  find  as  he  fondly  hoped  the 
open  way  to  a  life  on  the  rolling  deep.  But  to  his  modest 
inquiries  he  received  only  coarse  and  profane  rebuffs.  Failing 
here,  he  concluded  to  go  up  to  the  canal  and  see  if  he  could  find 


JAMES  ABEAM   GARFIELD.  461 

his  cousin,  who  was  captain  on  a  canal  boat.  lie  found  him  and 
soon  made  a  bargain  to  drive  a  team  for  the  "Evening  Star." 
The  next  morning  he  was  promptly  on  hand  and  began  his  new 
employment  which  had  a  hint  of  sea  life  in  it.  Before  the  end 
of  the  first  day  he,  with  his  mules,  was  jerked  into  the  canal. 
When  the  captain  called  out,  "  Jim,  what  are  you  doing  there?" 
he  jocosely  replied,  "Taking  a  bath."  Many  stories  of  his 
canal-boat  life  are  told  of  him,  all  characteristic  of  his  energy, 
courage,  cheerfulness  and  fidelity. 

But  not  long  did  this  continue,  for  one  rainy  midnight  he 
was  thrown  into  the  canal  where  the  water  was  deep,  in  uncoil- 
ing a  rope.  As  he  sank  in  the  water  with  none  to  help,  he  saw 
nothing  but  drowning  before  him.  But  soon  the  rope  which  he 
held  fast  to  tightened  in  his  hand  and  he  began  to  draw  himself 
toward  the  boat,  hand  over  hand.  In  this  way  he  drew  him- 
self into  the  boat,  when  he  found  that  a  kink  in  the  rope  had 
held  it  for  him  to  draw  himself  up.  He  threw  the  rope  out 
again  and  again,  and  many  times,  to  see  if  it  would  kink  again, 
but  it  would  not.  He  began  to  meditate  on  his  singular  deliver- 
ance. Was  it  providential?  He  could  not  comprehend  how  the 
rope  should  so  kink,  or  how  it  should  hold  him  when  so  kinked; 
and  he  said  to  himself,  that  if  it  was  providential  and  his  life 
was  worth  such  a  deliverance,  he  would  go  home,  educate  him- 
self and  make  the  most  he  could  of  it. 

This  accident,  and  the  meditation  it  caused,  changed  the 
tone  and  course  of  his  life.  The  sea-vision  vanished.  The 
romance  of  story  life  departed ;  and  the  counsel  of  his  mother 
to  get  an  education,  came  to  him  with  overwhelming  force. 
That  was  his  last  trip  on  the  "Evening  Star."  His  next  trip 
was  on  foot  to  his  mother's  door,  which  he  reached  late  in  the 
evening,  to  see  her  through  the  window,  on  her  knees  before  the 
open  bible,  and  to  hear  her  say  in  prayer :  "Oh,  turn  unto  me, 
and  have  mercy  upon  me.  Give  thy  strength  to  thy  servant, 
and  save  the  son  of  thy  handmaid."  He  waited  but  a  moment, 
and  opened  the  door  and  went  in,  in  answer  to  her  prayer.  The 
feeling  with  which  they  embraced  each  other  can  be  better 
imagined  than  expressed.  Could  they  doubt  that  a  kind  Provi- 


462  OtR 

dence  liad  kept  nim  and  led  him  back?  All  the  religious  trust 
und  enthusiasm  of  his  nature,  which  had  come  to  him  through 
generations  of  his  mother's  ancestors,  now  crystalized  into  a 
purpose  to  devote  his  life  to  an  education  and  such  usefulness  as 
should  open  to  him.  No  plan  was  formed;  no  vision  seen;  only 
a  "Thy  will  be  done,"  was  prayed  in  his  heart.  Thus  far  his 
life  had  been  a  sort  of  seeding  time  —  nothing  more.  Nothing 
visible  had  come  of  it  but  a  large,  muscular,  active,  cheerful 
youth;  nothing  invisible  had  come  of  it  but  this  one  newly 
formed  purpose,  and  the  discipline  which  his  rude,  hard-working 
experience  had  given  him. 

And  yet  this  purpose  was  often  shaken  for  a  time.  The  old 
desire  for  the  sea  would  return;  the  old  longing  for  roving  would 
almost  command  him  to  be  away.  He  had  a  season  of  struggle 
to  get  his  feet  well  on  the  right  road.  But  he  was  helped  in  this 
by  a  period  of  sickness — fever  and  ague — which  he  had  contracted 
on  the  canal,  and  which  came  on  soon  after  he  got  home.  It 
lasted  him  three  months.  During  this  sickness,  the  old  longing 
for  the  sea  would  come  on,  and  he  would  think  that  in  the  spring 
he  would  find  a  place  on  the  lake.  Then  his  mother  would  tell 
him  of  his  enfeebled  health,  and  how,  if  lie  would  go  to  school 
at  the  academy  a  term,  he  could  teach  school  the  next  winter. 
That  winter,  a  young  man  by  the  name  of  Samuel  D.  Bates, 
taught  the  school  near  his  mother's.  He  was  a  student  from 
Chester,  and  was  zealous  to  take  back  with  him  several  young 
men.  He  won  James  Garfield  to  his  project. 

GARFIELD'S  SCHOOL  LIFE. 

Once  at  school,  young  Garfield's  feet  were  planted  in  the  new 
way.  Two  young  men  went  with  him  to  the  Geauga  seminary 
at  Chester,  Geauga  county,  Ohio.  It  was  a  Free  "Will  Baptist 
academy.  He  at  once  entered  into  his  studies  with  zeal.  He 
made  it  a  point  to  get  every  lesson  well,  to  be  present  at  every 
recitation,  at  every  morning  session  of  the  school,  and  at  every 
literary  exercise.  In  the  literary  society  he  at  once  took  an  active 
part.  Here  he  wrote  his  first  essays,  made  his  first  speeches, 
was  first  awakened  to  the  glory  of  a  scholar's  life.  He  became 


JAMES  ABRAM   OARFIELfc.  463 

an  enthusiast  in  his  studies,  in  academic  associations.  Books, 
teachers,  students,  school,  all  became  objects  of  delight  to  him. 
It  was  a  new  world,  and  he  became  enrapt  in  its  charmed  life. 

Here  was,  a  student  with  him,  the  daughter  of  a  farmer, 
Miss  Lucretia  Rudolpli,  who  afterward  became  his  wife,  and 
stood  by  him,  witli  his  mother,  when  he  was  inaugurated  presi- 
dent of  the  United  States. 

Near  the  academy  was  a  carpenter's  shop  where  he  worked 
Saturdays,  and  some  mornings  and  evenings,  to  earn  money  to 
pay  his  board  and  buy  his  books.  In  the  summer  vacations  he 
worked  for  the  farmers  at  haying  and  harvesting.  In  the 
winters  he  taught  school.  He  was  self-helping  and  self- 
educating  all  the  time,  learning  how  to  get  and  use  money,  the 
value  of  time,  economy,  plain  living,  simple  dressing  and  self- 
restraint.  Hands,  heart,  conscience  and  intellect  were  all  being 
educated  together.  Young  Garfield  was  at  this -academy  nearly 
three  years. 

At  Hiram,  in  the  same  county,  the  Disciples  had  started  an 
institution  of  a  higher  grade,  called  at  first  the  "Eclectic  Insti- 
tute," afterward  Hiram  college.  His  family,  his  neighbors, 
himself,  were  "Disciples,"  and  it  was  natural,  right  and  best 
that  he  should  go  to  his  own  church  school.  At  that  stage  of 
his  life  it  was  best  for  him  to  be  with  his  own.  He  was  in  sym- 
pathy with  them,  had  a  religious  and  personal  interest  in  their 
institution,  and  was  not  only  ambitious  for  himself,  but  for  his 
church. 

In  1851  he  went  to  Hiram  and  at  once  entered  with  great 
zeal  not  only  into  his  studies  but  into  all  the  interests  of  that 
young  institution.  It  developed  in  him  a  public  spirit,  a  larger 
purpose  in  his  study  than  his  own  improvement.  It  was  the 
consecrated  door  out  into  the  great  world,  for  which  he  after- 
ward felt  such  a  broad  and  humane  interest.  His  student  life 
at  Hiram  had  the  best  possible  educational  influence  on  his 
character.  It  united  religious  and  moral  training  with  his 
mental  growth,  and  gave  them  all  a  large  outlook  into  the 
world.  It  gave  him  an  opportunity  to  become  a  free  and 
earnest  speaker  in  religious  meetings  and  on  religious  topics,  so 


464  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

that  he  grew  faster,  and  warmer,  and  broader  than  he  would 
anywhere  else.  Hiram  was  the  Providential  place  for  Garfield. 
He  was  self-helpful,  jovial  and  full  of  animal  spirits,  and  yet 
reverent,  tender  and  thoroughly  conscientious  of  the  minor 
strains  to  which  his  own  life  had  been  keyed  from  the 
beginning. 

He  went  to  Hiram  when  nineteen,  and  at  once  applied  for  the 
place  of  sweeper  and  bell-ranger,  to  pay  his  way.  After  three 
years  at  Hiram  he  went  to  Williams  college,  Massachusetts. 
His  reasons  for  going  there  instead  of  to  Bethany,  the  Disciple 
college,  were  that  the  course  at  Williams  was  better ;  Bethany 
leaned  too  heavily  toward  slavery;  he  was  a  "Disciple,"  and  his 
family  were,  and  he  had  been  thus  far,  educated  among  "Disci- 
ples;" now  he  thought  it  would  "make  him  more  liberal  in 
both  his  religious  and  general  views  and  sentiments  to  go  into  a 
new  circle,  where  he  should  be  under  new  influences." 

He  remained  two  years  at  Williams,  and  won  golden  opinions 
from  professors  and  students.  The  religious  students,  especially, 
enjoyed  his  simple,  childlike  piety.  The  intellectual  students 
enjoyed  his  scholarly  attainments  and  quick  and  strong  grasp  of 
mind.  The  hard-working  students  gloried  in  his  studious 
habits,  his  drudgery  in  search  of  facts  and  the  bottom  of  all 
subjects  which  he  investigated.  All  classes  felt  drawn  to  him 
by  his  frankness,  'cordiality,  great-heartedness. 

He  graduated  in  1856,  with  the  honor  of  the  metaphysical 
oration,  and  his  topic  was  "Matter  and  Spirit,"  He  left  Williams 
with  the  profoundest  regard  for  its  honored  president,  Doctor 
Hopkins,  and  full  of  rich  memories  of  students,  professors, 
f  eople  and  place. 

GARFIELD    A   TEACHER. 

Mr.  Garfield  began  his  teaching  in  the  common  school  and 
always  had  excellent  success  both  in  instruction  and  government. 
At  Hiram,  he  was  employed  the  second  and  third  years  as 
assistant  teacher  in  several  studies.  After  his  graduation  from 
Williams,  he  returned  to  Hiram  with  all  his  ambitions  quickened 
to  a  life  of  instruction.  To  graduate  from  a  good  college,  had 


JAMES   ABRAM    GARFIELD.  465 

been  the  height  of  his  ambition  ;  so  now  he  took  up  his  work  in 
a  kind  of  ecstaey  of  fulfillment.  His  nature  was  expanded,  his 
heart  full,  his  soul  at  peace.  The  next  year,  1857,  he  was  made 
president  of  Hiram  college.  It  was  his  view  that  a  "teacher 
must  be  full  of  manhood,  full  of  life,  full  of  those  qualities 
which  he  would  impart  to  others/'  and  this  was  Garfield.  He 
was  abounding  and  running  over  with  the  freshness  and  exuber- 
ance, of  mental,  moral  and  physical  vitality.  His  lectures  in 
the  chapel  "were  full  of  fresh  facts,  new  thoughts,  striking 
illustrations,  and  were  warm  with  the  glow  of  his  own  life." 
His  students  often  felt  that  there  was  something  marvelous  in 
his  overflowing  fullness  of  knowledge  and  enthusiasm.  He  won 
them  to  himself  and  held  by  hooks  of  steel.  He  magnetized 
them  with  his  personality. 

Mr.  Garfield  came  back  to  Hiram,  to  find  his  school  friend 
and  affianced  a  teacher  in  the  college.  On  November  11,  1858, 
they  were  married.  All  their  students  and  friends  enjoyed  this 
consummation  of  their  desires.  It  seemed  the  fitting  thing  for 
them  both. 

While  president  at  Hiram,  he  entered  his  name  as  a  law 
student  in  a  legal  firm  at  Cleveland,  and  studied  so  thoroughly 
that  in  due  time  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  so  well  prepared  as 
to  be  able  to  practice  in  any  of  the  courts. 

In  1859  he  was  invited  to  deliver  the  master's  oration,  at  the 
commencement  at  Williams.  On  his  return,  he  found  he  had 
been  nominated  for  the  State  Senate.  In  January,  1860,  he 
took  his  seat,  when  only  thirty  years  old  —  the  youngest  member. 
That  year  he  gave  a  Fourth  of  July  oration  at  Ravenna, 
.animated  with  the  most  fervid  patriotism  and  expressed  in  terms 
of  stirring  eloquence. 

It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  from  the  time  Mr.  Garfield 
began  to  study,  through  his  life  as  a  student,  a  teacher,  law- 
student  and  state  senator,  he  was  an  active  religious  man.  He 
was  faithful  to  his  church,  to  his  personal  religious  duties,  and 
to  the  great  gatherings  of  the  Disciples.  Quite  early  he  began 
to  preach.  After  he  was  through  college  and  while  teaching, 
he  preached  often  at  the  gatherings  of  the  brethren,  to  great 


466  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

acceptance.  He  supplied  vacant  pulpits,  led  prayer  meetings, 
gave  Sunday-school  addresses,  instructed  classes  in  Sunday- 
school,  and  did  all  things  needful  to  be  done  to  bear  on  the  work 
of  the  church.  In  all  this  he  showed  the  versatility  of  his 
talents,  the  exuberance  of  his  heart,  and  the  laboriousness  of 
his  constitution.  He  was  a  living  working  machine  —  almost 
perpetual  motion  in  every  good  cause. 

Through  the  whole  life  of  his  youth  and  manhood  he  was 
actively  anti-slavery;  so  that  his  political  views  were  shaped  to 
that  view  of  political  relations  and  duties.  To  him  the  slave 
was  a  man  and  had  his  natural  rights  which  no  other  man 
might  abridge.  On  this  subject  he  was  out-spoken,  positive 
and  religiously  earnest. 

A  teacher,  a  lawyer,  a  preacher,  a  student,  an  anti-slavery 
man,  and  intensely  patriotic,  he  went  into  the  State  Senate  in 
1860,  and  was  in  it  in  1861  when  Fort  Sumpter  was  fired  upon  by 
pro-slavery  secessionists.  Of  course  all  Garfield's  power  would 
be  aroused  in  opposition.  He  had  sprung  from  revolutionary 
patriots.  His  whole  life  had  been  one  of  humanity  and  fair- 
dealing.  A  secession  and  a  war  to  promote  slavery  was  to  him 
a  pair  of  atrocious  crimes. 

When  President  Lincoln's  call  for  seventy-five  thousand  men 
was  read  in  the  senate,  Mr.  Garfield  sprang  to  his  feet  and 
moved  that  Ohio  furnish  twenty  thousand  men  and  three  mill- 
ions of  dollars,  as  her  quota.  Mr.  Garfield  at  once  offered  him- 
self to  Governor  Dennison  to  serve  in  any  capacity  in  the  cause 
of  the  Union.  The  governor  sent  him  to  St.  Louis  for  five 
thousand  stands  of  arms  that  General  Lyons  had  placed  there. 

Having  secured  the  shipment  of  these,  the  governor  ordered 
him  to  hasten  to  Cleveland  to  organize  the  seventh  and  eighth 
regiments  of  Ohio  infantry.  The  governor  then  appointed  Mr. 
Garfield  lieutenant-colonel  and  authorized  him  to  raise  a  regi- 
ment on  the  Western  Eeserve.  The  Hiram  students  dropped 
their  books  and  hastened  to  follow  their  president.  The  regi- 
ment was  made  up  mostly  of  his  personal  friends.  It  went  to 
Columbus  without  a  colonel,  because  Mr.  Garfield  thought  he 
was  too  inexperienced  in  military  affairs.  After  much  persua- 


JAMES  ABEAM  GAKFIELB.  467 

sion  he  accepted  the  appointment  and  went  about  training  him- 
self for  a  military  leader.  About  this  time  he  wrote  to  a  friend: 
"One  by  one  my  old  plans  and  aims,  modes  of  thought  and 
feeling,  are  found  to  be  inconsistent  with  present  duty,  and  are 
set  aside  to  give  place  to  the  new  structure  of  military  life.  It 
is  not  without  regret,  almost  tearful  at  times,  that  I  look  upon 
the  ruins.  But  if,  us  the  result  of  the  broken  plans  and  shat- 
tered individual  lives  of  thousands  of  American  citizens,  we  can 
'see  on  the  ruins  of  our  national  errors  a  new  and  enduring 
fabric  arise,  based  on  a  larger  freedom  and  a  higher  justice,  it 
will  be  but  a  small  sacrifice  indeed.  For  myself  I  am  contented 
with  such  a  prospect,  and  regarding  my  life  as  given  to  my 
country,  I  am  only  anxious  to  make  as  much  of  it  as  possible 
before  the  mortgage  upon  it  is  foreclosed." 

COLONEL   GARFIELD. 

Now  it  was  military  drill  instead  of  college  drill.  President 
and  students  entered  with  zeal  into  the  preparation  for  war's 
dread  desolations.  The  regiment  did  not  get  off  south  till  the 
middle  of  September.  The  colonel  was  invited  personally  to 
visit  General  Buell  at  Louisville.  After  consultation,  Buell 
ordered  him  and  his  regiment  to  east  Kentucky  ;  made  a  new 
army  division  for  him,  and  united  the  troops  in  that  section 
under  him  to  operate  against  the  rebel  Marshall,  who  was  doing 
much  mischief  in  that  vicinity.  Colonel  Garfield  had  been  made 
a  brigadier-general,  and  in  this  new  official  capacity  he  entered 
into  his  work. 

Colonel  Garfield  acquainted  himself  with  the  situation,  and 
routed  Marshall  from  his  entrenched  position  without  a  battle 
by  his  dextrous  management  of  his  forces.  The  next  day, 
following  them  up,  they  had  a  fierce  battle  at  Middle  Creek 
with  a  foe  several  times  their  number,  and  gained  a  Union 
triumph.  The  Hiram  students  were  in  the  thickest  of  the 
fight,  and  proved  themselves  to  have  the  spirit  of  their  general. 

It  was  midwinter.  Heavy  rains,  even  floods,  filled  the 
valleys,  and  snow  covered  the  mountains.  Of  all  roads  and 
regions  they  were  in  the  worst.  They  depended  on  little 


46S  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

steamers  to  take  provisions  up  the  Big  Sandy  river.  But  it  was 
filled  with  floating  trees  and  everything  to  hinder.  The  colonel 
and  a  guide,  by  the  name  of  Brown,  went  down  the  river  in  a 
skiff  and  brought  up  a  boat  where  the  captain  said  it  was  impos- 
sible to  go,  the  colonel  commanding. 

On  the  sides  of  the  mountain  the  rebels  had  an  encampment 
from  which  Garfield  dislodged  them  by  taking  several  hundred 
men  up  the  cliffs  and  around  the  brow  of  the  mountain  over  ice 
and  snow,  where  mortal  man  was  never  expected  to  go.  He 
cleaned  out  the  valleys  and  swept  east  Kentucky  clear  of  armed 
rebels.  It  was  at  a  time  when  the  Union  cause  was  in  gloom, 
and  it  gave  great  encouragement  to  General  Buell,  President 
Lincoln  and  the  country. 

GENERAL   GARFIELD. 

President  Lincoln  at  once  commissioned  him  brigadier- 
general,  and  gave  him  the  command  of  the  twentieth  brigade, 
which  was  in  the  battle  of  Shiloh  and  at  the  siege  of  Corinth. 
General  Eosecrans  appointed  him  on  his  staff,  and  soon  made 
him  chief-of-staff.  He  was  in  the  great  battles  of  east  Ten- 
nessee, Chattanooga,  Chickamauga  and  Missionary  Eidge,  and 
did  eminent  service,  for  which  he  received  the  promotion  as 
major-general  for  gallant  and  meritorious  services.  Eosecrans 
sent  him  to  Washington  to  report  to  the  war  department  the 
exact  condition  of  the  army  in  east  Tennessee.  About  this  time 
he  was  granted  a  furlough  home,  and  was  afflicted  in  the  loss 
of  his  eldest  child. 

Garfield's  congressional  district  had  elected  him  to  Congress. 
He  had  shown  so  much  knowledge  and  ability  in  his  work  in  the 
army,  that  President  Lincoln  desired  him  in  Congress,  and 
urged  him  to  resign  his  place  in  the  army  and  enter  Congress. 
Garfield  was  now  full  of  the  army  and  its  great  work.  He  had 
mastered  the  knowledge  necessary  to  the  new  place,  and  now 
commanded  great  influence  in  it.  He  had  studied  in  school, 
studied  teaching,  studied  theology,  studied  law,  and  was  now 
studying  military  tactics  and  science  with  the  greatest  enthusi- 
asm. In  the  midst  of  this  came  the  voices  of  his  home  district 


JAMES   ABEAM    GARFIELD.  469 

and  his  president,  asking  that  he  should  go  into  Congress  and 
take  up  the  study  of  national  legislation.  In  less  than  two  years 
he  had  attained  his  high  position  in  the  army,  because  he  was 
a  thorough  student,  patriot  and  man.  Wherever  he  was,  he  was 
always  great.  And  his  greatness  was  so  many-sided  that  people 
had  only  begun  to  know  him  when  he  was  cut  down  by  the  bul- 
let of  the  assassin. 

CONGRESSMAN   GARFIELD. 

General  Garfield  went  into  Congress  in  December,  1863, 
after  three  years'  service  in  the  army  ;  and  went  to  Congress  to 
begin  in  earnest  a  thorough  study  of  political  economy  —  espe- 
cially finance,  taxation,  commerce,  tariff,  manufactures  and 
international  law.  His  study  in  Congress  was  intense,  and  here 
as  elsewhere,  he  became  a  master.  His  powerful  frame,  massive 
head  and  manly  voice  commanded  a  place  for  him  everywhere. 
In  his  state  he  was  the  youngest  senator ;  in  the  army  he  was 
the  youngest  general ;  now  he  was  the  youngest  member  in  the 
House.  But  he  soon  took  his  place  among  those  most  exper- 
ienced and  greatest,  as  their  peer.  He  took  high  moral  and 
patriotic  grounds  on  all  questions,  and  maintained  them  by 
great  speeches. 

In  two  years  he  was  re-elected  to  Congress  by  a  heavy 
majority.  In  the  middle  of  his  second  term,  President  Lincoln 
was  assassinated.  The  whole  country  was  shocked  and  aroused. 
In  New  York  city  a  great  mob  took  possession  of  the  streets. 
Two  men  were  shot.  "To  the  World,  to  the  World!"  cried 
some  in  the  mob,  and  the  surge  of  the  maddened  people  went 
that  way.  Just  then  a  strong  man  mounted  some  elevation  and 
waved  a  small  flag,  as  though  to  still  the  people.  "Another 
telegram  from  Washington  ! "  cried  out  several  voices.  Every- 
body stopped  and  listened.  The  strong  man  lifted  reverently 
his  eyes  to  heaven,  and  in  clear,  deep,  strong  tones,  said:  "Fel- 
low citizens,  clouds  and  darkness  are  around  about  Him.  His 
pavilion  are  dark  waters  and  thick  clouds  of  the  skies.  Justice 
and  judgment  are  the  habitation  of  His  throne.  Mercy  and 
truth  shall  go  before  His  face.  Fellow  citizens,  God  reigns,  and 


470  OUK    PRESIDENTS. 

the  government  at  Washington  still  lives  !"  "The  crowd  stood 
riveted  to  the  ground,"  writes  one  present,  "with  awe,  gazing 
at  the  motionless  orator  and  thinking  of  God  and  the  security 
of  the  government  in  that  hour." 

The  tumult  of  the  people  subsided.  A  mighty  voice  had 
stilled  a  mighty  passion.  General  Garfield  was  the  providential 
man  who  at  that  moment  of  danger  lifted  up  his  voice  over  the 
storm.  It  was  a  stroke  of  genius.  Only  a  mighty  master  of 
men  and  eloquence  can  do  such  a  thing.  It  stayed  a  mob  bent 
on  murder  and  fire. 

The  great  storm  of  war,  the  great  loss  of  the  president,  and 
the  great  work  of  reconstruction  in  the  hands  of  Congress,  only 
strengthened  his  powers  for  greater  service.  He  studied  harder 
than  any  other  member,  taking  more  books  out  of  the  congres- 
sional library,  mostly  on  the  subjects  immediately  in  hand.  He 
rose  with  the  need  of  each  hour,  and  put  on  new  strength  as 
dangers  seemed  to  thicken.  He  went  on  in  his  work  of  national 
legislator  through  the  administration  of  Presidents  Johnson, 
Grant  and  Hayes,  broadening  and  enriching  his  intelligence, 
holding  a  commanding  position  in  Congress,  and  educating  the 
nation  in  finance,  taxation,  commerce  and  international  law, 
till  the  great  republican  convention  of  1880,  at  Chicago,  put 
him  in  nomination  for  the  presidency.  His  great  popularity 
made  the  canvass  an  ovation  of  popular  affection  for  him. 

PRESIDENT   GARFIELD. 

The  nominating  convention  at  Chicago,  the  enthusiastic 
popular  canvass,  the  triumphant  election,  all  indicated  that  no 
other  man  in  this  country  had  so  large  a  place  in  the  hearts  of 
the  people  as  General  Garfield.  His  home  at  Mentor  was  a 
republican  Mecca ;  his  way  to  Washington  was  a  triumphal 
journey;  his  inauguration  was  a  red-letter  day  for  popular 
government.  Here  was  a  great  man,  a  good  man,  a  kingly 
man,  in  person,  mind  and  heart,  who  had  risen  from  a  cabin 
in  the  wilderness  to  the  presidential  mansion  through  all  the 
steps  of  personal  struggle  and  trial,  of  labor,  study,  religious 
devotion,  patriotic  endeavor,  and  national  discipline  and  service, 


JAMES    ABRAM    GAKFIELD.  471 

to  the  highest  honor  the  nation  could  give  ;  and  yet  he  had  kept 
his  common-folk  simplicity,  his  humility^  frankness,  genuine- 
ness, heartiness,  without  seeming  to  know  that  he  had  come  to 
be  a  great  man,  or  to  lose  any  of  the  fresh  vital  love  of  humanity 
which  had  always  won  him  the  warmest  personal  friendship. 
With  his  enthusiasms  unabated,  his  noble  ambitions  yet  pure 
and  simple,  he  went  to  the  office  of  the  president  to  serve  the 
country  and  promote  the  well-being  of  his  kind. 

A  country  that  produces  such  men,  that  makes  it  possible 
for  every  man  to  rise  as  he  did  according  to  the  measure  of  his 
powers,  who  will  obey  the  conditions,  is  a  country,  the  worth  of 
which  can  never  be  properly  estimated.  No  service  rendered  to 
men  is  better  given,  than  that  rendered  such  a  country. 

President  Garfield's  position  had  its  difficulties.  His  party 
was  not  at  agreement  as  to  methods.  There  was  a  "close  corpo- 
ration" so  to  speak,  within  the  party,  which  was  managed  by  a 
few  party  leaders,  for  the  most  part  honored  men,  who  had  lost 
popularity  with  the  other  and  larger  element  of  the  party,  who 
thought  this  "machine"  within  the  party  was  a  corrupting 
thing.  It  was  the  president's  purpose,  if  possible,  to  unite  these 
elements  in  his  administration,  and  at  the  same  time  abate  the 
prevailing  influence  of  the  "machine"  methods.  There  is  but 
little  doubt  that  he  would  have  succeeded,  had  not  the  bullet  of 
the  assassin  closed  his  noble  career. 

ASSASSINATION. 

On  the  morning  of  July  2,  1881,  the  president  had  arranged 
to  visit  New  England  for  a  little  rest.  His  wife  being  at  Long 
Branch,  and  was  to  meet  him  at  New  York.  Senator  Blaine, 
after  breakfast,  drove  to  the  White  House  and  took  the  president 
into  his  carriage,  and  took  him  to  the  depot.  Beaching  the 
station  nearly  half  an  hour  before  train  time,  they  sat  in  the 
carriage  till  a  railroad  official  told  them  the  train  was  about  to 
start.  They  left  the  carriage  and  went  in  through  the  ladies' 
waiting  room  which  was  nearly  empty.  As  they  were  passing 
through  the  room,  arm  in  arm,  a  strange,  thin,  wiry-looking 
man,  small  and  quick,  darted  up  behind  them  and  fired  at  the 


472  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

back  of  the  president.  Eecocking  his  pistol,  he  fired  again  in  an 
instant.  The  president  sank  to  the  floor.  Mr.  Elaine  sprang 
to  the  assassin  who  offered  little  resistance.  The  Avoman  in 
charge  of  the  room,  ran  immediately  to  the  fallen  president  and 
held  up  his  head.  A  physician  was  summoned,  a  mattress  pro- 
vided and  he  was  taken  to  the  White  House.  His  wife  Avas 
summoned  and  then  followed  long  days  of  pain  and  anxiety. 

The  country  Avas  shocked.  Sympathy  and  sorroAV  Avere  every- 
Avhere.  Indignation  at  the  wretch  who,  in  dastardly  conceit  of 
personal  importance,  sought  to  restore  a  political  faction  to 
poAver,  by  assassinating  the  president,  made  it  difficult  to  keep 
him  from  the  aArenging  hands  of  the  populace.  "  No  Fourth  of 
July  Avas  ever  so  mournful  in  this  country.  All  nations  sympa- 
thized with  our  suffering  president,  his  family  and  people. 
Early  in  September  he  was  moved  to  Long  Branch;  Avhere  he 
lingered  till  the  nineteenth  of  September,  when  he  died  at  10:35 
o'clock  P.M.,  1881. 

No  words  can  express  the  SOITOAV  of  the  people.  He  was, 
indeed,  one  of  the  greatest  and  noblest  of  American  men.  It  is 
painful  to  try  to  tell  the  story  of  so  great  a  life  in  so  short  a 
space. 


THE  1|RAVE  OF  If  RESIDENT  ijARFIELD. 

After  the  death  of  President  Garfield,  at  Long  Branch,  his 
body  Avas  taken  to  Washington  and  laid  in  state  for  two  days, 
and  then  borne  to  Cleveland  and  deposited  in  the  Scofield  tomb, 
in  Lake  View  cemetery.  Mr.  Garfield's  home  had  always  been 
near  Cleveland ;  many  of  his  early  neighborhood  and  school 
friends  were  there;  Mentor,  his  chosen  country  residence,  Avas  but 
one  hour's  ride  by  rail  from  there;  some  of  his  strongest  political 
friends  had  helped  to  build  up  the  Forest  City ;  he  had  always 
watched  its  growth  Avith  the  greatest  interest;  so  that  Cleveland 
was  more  his  home  than  any  other  city.  It  was  understood 
among  his  friends  that  he  had  contemplated  Lake  VieAv  ceme- 
tery as  the  final  resting  place  of  his  mortal  remains. 


JAMES   ABRAM    GARFIELD.  473 

Lake  View  cemetery  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  of  the 
many  beautiful  cemeteries  of  the  country.  It  is  comparatively 
new,  and  is  rapidly  growing  into  a  delightful  resting  place  of 
human  mortality.  It  is  five  and  a  quarter  miles  east  of  the 
center  of  Cleveland,  on  Euclid  avenue,  one  of  the  finest  city 
streets  in  the  world ;  three  quarters  of  a  mile  east  of  Adelbert 
college  and  the  Case  school  of  applied  science ;  half  a  mile 
southeast  of  Wade  Park,  on  the  side  of  which,  next  to  the  cem- 
etery, is  reserved  a  site  for  another  educational  institution. 
The  city  already  reaches  to  within  a  short  distance  of  the 
cemetery,  and  will  soon  enclose  it  on  three  sides.  The  Nickel- 
plate  railroad  runs  along  the  north  side  of  it.  It  is  already 
in  the  midst  of  that  life  and  enterprise  in  which  Mr.  Garfield 
felt  such  an  enthusiastic  interest.  It  will  soon  be  in  the  very 
presence  of  great  educational  institutions,  such  as  he  had  given 
much  of  his  life  to  promote.  Education,  business,  travel,  and 
the  homes  of  the  people,  are  about  his  resting  place.  In  death, 
as  in  life,  he  is  in  the  midst  of  the  world's  great  interests,  which 
he  loved. 

Lake  Erie  is  about  two  and  a  half  miles  from  the  cemetery, 
and  is  visible  from  all  the  high  part  of  it.  It  is  an  irregular 
tract  of  three  hundred  acres  of  uneven  land — hill  and  dale — with 
a  pleasant  stream  of  water  running  through  it  from  the  south. 
The  soil  is  light  and  gravelly,  and  the  general  aspect  of  the 
scenery  agreeable  in  every  respect. 

The  Scofield  vault,  in  which  the  president's  body  now  reposes, 
is  a  beautiful  Gothic  structure  of  gray  sandstone  built  into  the 
slope  of  an  undulating  hill,  and  facing  the  stream  that  runs 
through  the  grounds,  which  just  here  broadens  out  into  a 
little  lakelet. 

Four  small  granite  pillars,  two  dark  and  two  red,  on  the 
front,  support  the  ornamental  work  of  the  roof. 

The  tomb  is  about  fifteen  feet  wide,  and  about  the  same 
height  and  depth. 

The  door  is  some  five  or  six  feet  wide.  The  president's  casket 
is  just  inside  and  across  the  door,  on  supports  about  two  feet 
high.  It  is  of  bronze,  and  was  sealed  at  the  time  his  body  was 


474  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

put  into  it,  and  has  not  been  opened.  On  it  is  a  large  wreath 
of  immortelles,  and  on  the  side  near  the  bottom  are  little  sheaves 
of  wheat  and  baskets  of  flowers.  Behind  the  casket,  and  over 
it,  is  arched  the  American  flag.  Twelve  United  States  soldiers 
keep  guard  over  it,  night  and  day,  taking  turns  in  their  watch. 

The  casket  is  to  rest  here,  open  to  the  view  of  the  public 
through  the  wrought-iron  grated  gate,  which  prevents  entrance 
till  the  monument  is  completed,  affording  it  a  perpetual  home. 

The  Lake  View  Cemetery  Association  have  contributed  a  lot 
of  two  and  a  half  acres,  half  a  mile  from  the  entrance  in  the 
southwest  part  of  the  cemetery,  near  the  Mayfield  road.  The 
lot  is  on  the  highest  ground  in  the  cemetery,  one  hundred  and 
thirty  feet  above  the  entrance,  and  affords  a  fine  view  of  the 
lake,  the  cemetery,  the  park  and  college  grounds,  as  well  as  the 
country  about,  and  the  city  towers  and  spires  to  the  west  of  it. 
The  lot  is  valued  at  one  hundred  thousand  dollars.  The  monu- 
ment is  to  cost  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars.  Of  this 
sum  seventy-five  thousand  have  been  contributed  by  friends  of 
Mr.  Garfield  in  Cleveland.  The  rest  is  the  free-will  offering  of 
friends  far  and  near,  much  of  it  in  small  sums. 

Proposals  for  designs  have  been  made,  which  are  to  be  opened 
next  May.  The  monument  is  to  be  of  granite,  and  the  emblems 
and  statuary  of  bronze.  The  monument  is  to  have  a  receptacle 
for  the  president  and  a  vault  for  the  family.  The  ground 
is  already  well  along  in  the  process  of  the  grading,  and  every- 
thing looks  as  though  the  monument  would  be  completed  in  a 
couple  of  years.  When  done,  it  will  be  one  of  the  finest  monu- 
ments in  the  country,  and  will  be  a  fitting  remembrance  of  our 
second  martyred  president. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 


CHESTER  ALLAN"  ARTHUR. 

TWENTY-FIKST    PRESIDENT    OP    THE    UNITED    STATES. 
ANCESTRY  AND   BOYHOOD. 

RESIDENT  ARTHUR,  now  (1884)  occupying  the 
executive  chair  of  the  republic,  was  born  in  Fairfield, 
Franklin  county,  Vermont,  October  5,  1830,  and  is  in 
the  fifty-fourth  year  of  his  age.  He  is  the  only  son  of 
Vermont  who  has  attained  this  distinction.  Vermont  has 
produced  many  noted  men,  and  has,  from  the  days  of  the 
revolution,  taken  an  active  and  efficient  part  in  national  affairs; 
has  usually  been  forward  and  vigorous  in  the  fields  of  war; 
strong  in  Congress;  intelligent  and  high-minded  in  the  conduct 
of  her  own  public  affairs;  had  a  hardy  and  robust  people,  inde- 
pendent and  vigorous  in  mind  and  action;  staid,  order-loving, 
law-abiding  and  truth-seeking.  Their  patriotism  has  been 
intense,  and  their  devotion  to  the  public  welfare  a  strong  and 
steady  impulse. 

Among  such  people  President  Arthur  came  into  being  and 
received  his  early  influences  and  education.  The  strong  climate 
and  fine  scenery  did  their  part  in  giving  vigor  to  his  body  and 
mind,  and  activity  and  taste  to  his  imagination. 

His  father,  Reverend  William  Arthur,  was  a  Baptist  clergy- 
man who  came  to  this  country  from  Ireland  when  eighteen  years 
old.  He  had  had  charge  of  a  church  in  New  York  city  for  a 
number  of  years;  had  published  a  work  of  considerable  merit  on 

475 


476  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

"Family  Names,"  and  had  held  a  good  place  in  the  ministry 
of  his  denomination  before  his  son  became  much  known.  He 
died  in  1875. 

Chester  was  the  eldest  of  a  family  of  five  children,  two  sons 
and  three  daughters.  He  fitted  himself  for  college  in  the  Ver- 
mont academies,  which  have  done  and  are  still  doing  excellent 
service  in  educating  the  youth  of  that  state.  At  the  early  age 
of  fifteen  he  entered  Union  college  at  Schenectady,  New  York, 
where  he  graduated  in  the  class  of  1849,  when  nineteen  years 
old.  During  his  college  course  he  partly  paid  his  way  by 
teaching  a  part  of  the  time  and  continuing  his  studies.  After 
his  graduation,  he  returned  to  Vermont  and  continued  teaching 
for  a  few  years.  For  a  time  he  was  principal  of  the  Pownal 
academy.  But  while  teaching  he  had  begun  the  study  of  law. 

MR.    ARTHUR   THE    LAWYER. 

Having  saved  sufficient  money  to  carry  him  through  his  pro- 
fessional studies,  he  went  to  New  York  and  entered  the  office  of 
ex-Judge  Culver.  Having  pursued  the  prescribed  course,  he 
was  admitted  to  the  bar,  and  concluded  to  accept  Mr.  Greeley's 
wholesale  advice  to  the  young  men  of  the  east  to  go  west,  as 
though  young  men  were  no  longer  needed  in  the  east.  After  a 
wide  tour  through  the  west  with  his  young  friend,  H.  D. 
Gardiner,  to  find  the  place  that  needed  them  and  that  they 
needed,  in  which  to  grow  up  to  fortune  and  distinction,  they 
returned  to  New  York  city,  convinced  that  the  prophetic  gift 
was  not  theirs  to  divine  the  places  for  the  great  future  cities  of 
the  west.  The  western  fever  cured,  the  two  young  men  formed 
a  partnership,  opened  an  office  and  began  the  practice  of  law  at 
the  foot  of  the  hill.  Little  by  little  their  business  grew,  and 
they  grew  with  it,  till  in  a  few  years  they  were  well  established 
in  a  lucrative  practice. 

When  well  established  in  his  profession,  he  married  a 
daughter  of  Lieutenant  Herndon,  of  the  United  States  navy, 
who,  with  his  ship,  was  lost  at  sea.  His  widow  was  voted  a  gold 
medal  by  Congress  for  his  fidelity.  Mrs.  Arthur  died  in  1880, 
before  his  election  to  the  vice-presidency. 


CHESTER   ALLAN   ARTHUR.  477 

In  1852,  when  slaveholders  claimed  the  right  to  take  and 
hold  their  slaves  wherever  they  chose  to  go,  a  Virginia  slave- 
owner, with  eight  slaves,  went  to  New  York  on  his  way  to  Texas. 
While  awaiting  the  sailing  of  the  vessel  on  which  he  was  expect- 
ing to  go,  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus  was  obtained  for  the  slaves, 
and  the  law  took  them  in  charge.  Their  case  was  tried  before 
Judge  Paine,  Mr.  Arthur  and  William  M.  Evarts  serving  them 
as  advocates.  It  was  held  by  the  court  that  they  could  not  be 
held  as  bondmen  in  New  York,  nor  returned  as  slaves  to  Vir- 
ginia under  the  fugitive  slave  law.  They  were  not  fugitives 
from  service,  but  were  held  by  their  pretended  owner  in  New 
York  without  law.  They  were  liberated.  The  Virginia  legis- 
lature sought  to  recover  them,  and  brought  suit  in  a  New  York 
court  for  that  purpose.  The  case  was  tried  and  decision  given 
for  the  colored  people.  An  appeal  was  made  to  the  supreme 
court,  and  the  decision  of  the  court  below  was  sustained.  The 
case  gave  Mr.  Arthur  much  notoriety,  and  won  him  the  friend- 
ship of  the  colored  people  and  their  friends,  and  of  the  friends 
of  humanity,  as  far  as  the  matter  was  known. 

Another  case  of  a  similar  kind  is  recorded  to  his  credit  as  a 
man  of  justice  and  humanity.  A  colored  girl  was  ejected  from 
a  New  York  street  car  after  she  had  paid  her  fare.  Mr.  Arthur 
brought  suit  for  damages,  and  recovered  five  hundred  dollars  for 
the  girl.  It  brought  the  whole  matter  before  the  public  through 
the  press,  and  resulted  in  reversing  the  street  railroad  order 
against  passengers  of  color. 

As  a  young  man,  Mr.  Arthur  was  a  whig,  and  a  great 
admirer  of  Henry  Clay.  His  Vermont  education,  perhaps,  had 
something  to  do  with  this,  as  Vermont  always  stood  stoutly  for 
that  line  of  political  opinions  represented  by  the  federalists, 
whigs  and  republicans. 

MR.    ARTHUR  THE   POLITICIAN. 

When  the  convention  met  at  Saratoga  which  organized  the 
republican  party  of  New  York,  Mr.  Arthur  was  a  delegate.  In 
that  party  he  was,  therefore,  at  home,  having  assisted  in  forming 
it.  its  ideas  and  purposes  were  his.  Its  opposition  to  the 


478  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

extension  of  slavery,  its  disbelief  in  slavery,  its  recognition  of 
human  rights  in  colored  people,  its  belief  in  the  Union  as  a  per- 
manent national  power,  under  the  government  of  which  the 
states  exist;  its  adhesion  to  a  national  currency,  and  its  repudia- 
tion'of  the  state  rights  heresy  were  all  his.  On  the  basis  of 
these  ideas  he  has  shaped  his  political  life. 

Hence,  when  the  pro-slavery  and  state  rights  rebellion  broke 
out  he  was  a  national  government  man  by  personal  affinity  and 
political  affiliation,  and  gave  his  help  to  save  the  Union  and 
redeem  it  from  the  slave  curse.  He  was  made  judge  advocate  of 
the  second  brigade  of  the  state  militia. 

The  governor  of  New  York,  in  1860,  appointed  Mr.  Arthur 
to  the  position  of  engineer-in-chief  on  his  staff.  He  was  after- 
ward  inspector-general  for  a  time.  Later  he  was  quartermaster- 
general  of  the  militia  forces  of  the  state  to  the  close  of  Governor 
Morgan's  term  of  office,  in  18G3.  The  work  of  equipping,  sup- 
plying and  transporting  the  immense  number  of  troops  sent 
to  the  army  by  that  state  tested  his  business  ability.  His 
immense  accounts  were  so  systematically  kept  that  they  were 
audited  and  allowed  at  Washington  without  deduction,  a  thing 
not  very  usual  then,  in  the  confusion  of  putting  an  immense 
army  into  the  field.  His  contracts  every  year  reached  millions 
of  dollars,  and  yet  his  accounts  were  so  exact  as  to  show  the 
most  scrupulous  integrity  in  all  his  dealings.  Personally,  he 
profited  nothing  by  his  great  opportunities  to  use  to  his  benefit 
a  tariff  on  his  trade.  He  rejected  presents ;  kept  clean  hands 
and  just  accounts,  and  made  a  war  record  for  integrity  as 
creditable  as  that  of  bravery  on  the  field.  The  bravery  of  an 
honest  conduct  of  such  a  great  business  in  one's  country's  behalf 
is  indeed  most  worthy,  and  is  to  be  set  down  as  one  of  the 
morally  grand  things  that  grand  men  do. 

In  1862,  in  one  of  the  dark  hours  of  the  war,  when  the  loyal 
governors  had  a  meeting  for  counsel,  Mr.  Arthur  was  invited  to 
sit  with  them,  on  account  of  his  great  experience  in  the  conduct 
of  army  matters.  His  record  was  a  very  honorable  and  helpful 
one  in  the  hour  of  his  country's  peril. 

After  his  work  in  the  army  was  over,  Mr.  Arthur  returned 


CHESTER  ALLAH  ARTHUR.  479 

to  the  practice  of  law,  and  gained  in  a  few  years  a  large  busi- 
ness, a  large  portion  of  which  was  in  collecting  claims  against 
the  government.  He  was  interested  much  both  in  state  and 
national  legislation,  and  drafted  many  bills  in  the  interest  of 
both.  He  inclined  to  politics  and  to  associate  with  politicians, 
and  hence  took  a  more  or  less  active  part  in  local  politics.  He 
had  lived  long  in  the  city  and  knew  its  people  and  interests  and 
was  public  spirited.  He  had  skill  as  an  organizer  and  manager 
of  local  partisan  matters. 

In  1871,  Mr.  Arthur  was  appointed  by  President  Grant 
collector  of  customs  at  the  port  of  New  York.  So  satisfactory 
was  his  work  that  he  was  reappointed  four  years  later.  He  was 
continued  under  President  Hayes,  and  in  this  showed  the  large 
business  qualities  previously  manifested  in  army  affairs. 

But  now  came  a  break  in  the  smooth  current  of  his  affairs. 
From  early  in  President  Grant's  administration  his  party,  having 
come  to  be  powerful,  came  much  under  the  management  of 
party  leaders,  and  some  of  them  not  creditable  to  the  party ; 
greedy,  selfish  men,  who  were  in  the  party  for  place  and  gain. 
By  such  men  were  soon  formed  rings  of  their  kind.  In  a  short 
time  these  rings  came  to  be  managed  by  single  men,  these  single 
men  playing  skillfully  into  each  others  hands.  At  Washington, 
at  each  state  capital,  in  each  large  city,  these  rings  came  to  hold 
the  party  management.  They  could  easily  combine,  and  this 
combination  readily  constituted  a  sort  of  secret  conclave  to  cut 
and  dry  appointments,  measures,  and  the  general  conduct  of 
state  and  national  affairs.  This  combination  soon  came  to  be  a 
machine  for  working  up  the  jobs  of  the  ringleaders,  who  came 
to  be  termed  "bosses."  President  Grant's  hail-fellow-well-met 
qualities  and  natural  incompetency  for  business  made  him  just 
the  ruler  under  which  such  a  system  could  easily  grow  up  into  a 
mighty  combination.  And  under  him  many  of  the  people  came 
to  believe  such  a  system  had  grown  up.  It  was  believed  by 
many,  that  after  President  Hayes  was  elected,  Grant  was  made 
an  unconscious  agent  of  this  combination,  to  travel  rounJ  the 
world  and  come  home  by  way  of  California  just  in  "time  to 
receive  the  enthusiastic  welcome  from  bis  country  and  be  noini- 


480  ©UK   PRESIDENTS. 

nated  for  a  third  term  in  the  presidency.  Many  of  the  people 
came  to  regard  this  combination  as  a  most  intolerable  "  machine," 
utterly  unrepublican  and  hostile  to  pure  government  and  the 
people's  rule. 

President  Hayes  sought  to  head  off  this  growing  state  of 
things  and  keep  his  administration  free  from  any  complicity 
with  it.  So  he  issued  an  order  against  United  States  officers 
taking  any  leading  part  in  political  canvasses. 

Mr.  Arthur  was  at  that  time  chairman  of  the  republican 
state  committee  of  New  York.  His  natural  talent  for  manage- 
ment and  business  made  him  an  efficient  man  in  that  place,  and 
much  more  the  agent  of  the  ring  "  bosses "  probably  than  he 
realized.  He  resisted  the  order  of  the  president,  and  was 
removed  from  the  collectorship.  He  had  given  entire  satis- 
faction. His  accounts  were  correct.  All  was  as  it  should  be  in 
his  office.  But  he  was  in  a  "ring  of  politicians";  was  a  ring- 
master himself,  as  many  people  thought ;  and  this  prevalent 
opinion,  no  doubt,  was  shared  by  President  Hayes,  and  he 
sought  to  clear  his  administration  from  its  evil  influence. 

Mr.  Arthur  went  back  to  the  practice  of  law,  but  not  con- 
verted to  "civil  service  reform"  as  practiced  by  President 
Hayes.  He  was  still  at  the  head  of  his  ring,  now  Avounded  arid 
resolved  on  maintaining  its  position.  In  due  time  the  next 
presidential  election  came  round,  and  with  it  the  wandering  ex- 
President  Grant,  according  to  the  prediction  of  those  who 
believed  he  was  to  be  put  forward  for  a  third  term.  The  nomi- 
nating convention  came,  with  the  whole  combination  of 
"machine"  men,  resolved  on  the  third  term  movement.  The 
movement  was  led  by  Mr.  Koscoe  Conkling,  of  New  York,  a 
strong  and  determined  man,  and  an  intimate  friend  of  Mr. 
Arthur.  The  third  term  movement,  though  urged  with  a  solid 
combination  and  great  persistency,  failed,  and  Mr.  Garfield  was 
nominated.  Then  the  winning  party  in  the  convention  must  be 
generous,  and  Mr.  Conkling  was  given  the  naming  of  a  man  for 
vice-president.  He  named  Chester  A.  Arthur. 


CHESTER   ALLAN   ARTHUR.  481 


VICE-PRESIDENT  AND    PRESIDENT. 

Mr.  Arthur  took  an  active  part  in  the  canvass,  especially  in 
his  own  state,  and  added  much  to  the  well-managed  campaign 
which  elected  Mr.  Garfield  and  himself. 

Mr.  Arthur  presided  with  acceptance  in  the  special  session  of 
the  senate  which  followed.  But  the  election  was  accomplished 
by  a  divided  party.  The  "civil  service  reform"  part  had 
secured  its  man  for  president,  who  was  amiable  and  conciliatory 
toward  the  "machine"  part  of  the  party,  but  Mr.  Conklingwas 
imperious  and  unwilling  to  accept  any  lessons  in  civil  service 
reform,  or  yield  any  of  his  prerogatives  as  party  chief  in  New 
York.  President  Garfield,  in  spite  of  himself,  was  soon  in  con- 
flict with  the  imperious  New  York  senator,  who,  because  he 
could  not  resist  the  senate's  approval  of  the  president's  New 
York  appointments,  resigned  and  went  home  to  engineer  his 
own  re-election.  Mr.  Arthur  also  went  to  Albany  to  secure,  if 
possible,  his  chief's  re-election,  who  thus  put  himself  in  antago- 
nism with  the  president.  The  contest  at  Albany  was  a  very 
warm  one,  but  the  civil  service  reform  sentiment  had  become 
too  strong  to  be  overcome,  and  Mr.  Conkling  was  permitted  to 
remain  in  private  life,  to  which  he  had  voluntarily  betaken 
himself.  He  had  been  a  sort  of  idol  of  his  party,  many  of  whom 
sorrowed  over  his  wrong-headedness,  as  they  called  it.  It  was  a 
needless  and  willful  self-sacrifice,  many  of  his  friends  thought, 
and  made  him  exceedingly  unpopular.  He  resisted  the  popular 
will  to  his  own  political  ruin. 

This  threw  Mr.  Arthur  into  the  shadow  of  popular  dis- 
approbation. He  had  been  no  more  willing  to  learn  wisdom 
from  the  people  than  his  chief  had  been.  The  heat  of  this 
conflict  was  not  over  when  a  cracked-brained  and  conceited 
would-be  politician  assassinated  President  Garfield,  and  forced  by 
pistol  shot  the  presidency  upon  Mr.  Arthur.  A  more  unfortu- 
nate way  of  coming  to  a  high  office  never  before  occurred  to  its 
recipient.  Many  felt  that  he  was  unintentionally  a  participator 
in  the  crime  in  his  persistent  devotion  to  Mr.  Conkling  against 
the  president.  Many  more  lost  confidence  in  him  for  his  oppo- 


482  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

sitioii  to  civil  service  reform,  and  his  devotion  to  the  hitherto 
prevailing  system  of  ring  politics.  Many  more  lost  confidence 
in  him  on  account  of  his  practical  rejection  of  temperance  and 
teetotal  principles,  and  allying  himself  on  the  side  of  the  great 
and 'destructive  liquor  selling  and  drinking  system.  All  these 
things  combined  produced  a  tide  of  public  sentiment  against 
him,  greater,  perhaps,  than  any  president,  except  Andrew  John- 
son, had  had  to  resist.  But  his  humiliation  and  grief,  and  every 
way  considerate  conduct  after  the  assassination  and  during  the 
long  weeks  of  watching  over  the  wounded  president,  won  upon 
the  whole  people,  and  made  it  possible  for  him  to  give  the 
country  an  acceptable  presidential  service.  Yet  his  service  gave 
evidence  that  he  had  not  received  the  lesson  which  the  events 
plainly  taught  till  the  next  election  gave  his  state  to  the  oppo- 
site party  by  some  two  hundred  thousand  majority.  It  seemed 
to  many  that  he  threw  away  a  splendid  opportunity  to  crown 
iiis  life  with  honor,  by  his  over-devotion  to  a  system  of  political 
management  and  personal  self-indulgence  almost  necessarily 
corrupt  and  corrupting.  After  that  election,  his  course  up  to 
the  close  of  his  administration  was  far  more  satisfactory  and 
continued  daily  to  grow  in  favor  with  the  people  until  it  closed . 
The  business  men  of  the  country  were  especially  allied  to  him. 
He  failed  of  a  renomination  on  account  of  the  old  civil  service 
element  of  the  republican  party  which  had  taken  up  James  G. 
Hlaine  as  its  candidate.  Mr.  Arthur,  after  the  inauguration  of 
his  successor,  Grover  Cleveland,  returned  to  New  York  City  and 
resumed  the  practice  of  law,  which  he  continued  up  to  his  death, 
Avhich  occurred  very  suddenly  on  November  18th,  188G,  at  his 
residence,  on  Lexington  avenue,  New  York  City,  from  cerebral 
apoplexy.  His  remains  were  interred  at  Albany,  N.  Y.,  in  the 
family  plot  in  the  Albany  Rural  Cemetery. 

Mr.  Arthur's  administration  of  the  government  commended 
him  very  strongly  to  the  respect  of  the  people,  and  especially 
considering  the  very  trying  circumstances  under  which  he  took 
the  office,  his  administration  was  remarkably  successful.  No  in- 
etance  in  which  a  vice-president  has  performed  the  duties  of  the 
office  of  the  president  in  the  previous  history  of  the  country, 
offers  a  more  commendable  record  of  results. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 


GEOVEE  CLEVELAND. 

TWENTY-SECOND  PKESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

C"  ROVER  CLEVELAND  was  thrust  upon  the  people  of  the 
country  with  some  degree  of  suddenness.  When  presented 
as  a  candidate  for  the  presidency,  he  had  held  no  national 
office,  attained  no  national  reputation,  acquired  no  marked 
power  of  speech  or  action,  made  no  impression  upon  the  national 
mind  that  would  warrant  any  immediate  expectancy  of  such  a 
position.  He  was  one  of  the  people,  suddenly  lifted  into  promi- 
nence, not  by  any  brilliancy  he  had  shown,  but  on  account  of  a 
certain  Roman  stalwartness  of  integrity  in  local  public  service, 
which  had  given  him  a  local  notoriety.  His  elevation  was  a  new 
evidence  of  the  people's  readiness  to  find  public  servants  among 
themselves,  when  the  chance  is  offered  them.  Republics  abound 
in  rulers.  When  they  are  true  to  the  principles  in  which  they 
are  based,  they  are  a  school  of  kings,  in  which  rulers  are  trained 
with  as  much  readiness  as  are  farmers,  mechanics  and  business 
men. 

In  the  case  of  Mr.  Cleveland,  the  American  public  demon- 
strates the  needlessness  of  royalty  in  a  ruling  family,  or  class, 
and  the  ability  of  the  people  to  develop  rulers  as  they  need  them 
and  such  as  they  need. 

Five  years  before  he  was  •  named  for  the  presidency,  Mr. 
Cleveland  was  a  fairly  successful  lawyer  in  Buffalo,  with  no 
more  thought  or  prospect  of  that  high  place  than  every  average 
American. 

483 


484  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

The  municipal  government  of  Buffalo  having  got  into  the 
slough  of  party  politics,  vfhich  is  the  nether  abyss  into  which 
American  cities  are  prone  to  plunge,  some  acquaintance  of  Mr. 
Cleveland  conceived  the  idea  that  if  he  could  be  made  mayor,  he 
would  clean -the  Augean  stable.  He  was  named  as  a  democrat, 
for  a  citizen's  movement  to  purge  the  city  government  of  its 
disgraceful  corruption.  The  movement  was  successful  and  he 
was  elected.  He  soon  showed  that  votes  had  not  bought  his 
service,  that  partisanship  had  no  power  over  him  as  against 
public  duty,  that  as  a  mayor  he  knew  how  to  call  crimes  against 
the  public  treasury  by  their  legal  and  moral  names,  no  matter 
who  committed  them,  and  that  the  mayor  of  Buffalo  was  elected 
to  serve  no  rings,  grind  no  axes,  seek  no  emoluments,  but  simply 
to  be  honest  and  make  the  best  government  for  the  people  he 
could.  He  was  such  a  new  style  of  man  in  that  office  that  he 
soon  became  the  Buffalo  prodigy,  and  then  the  state  wonder, 
simply  because  he  did  his  duty  and  nothing  else. 

In  a  similar  way  he  was  made  governor  of  the  state,  and 
before  a  year,  nominated  for  the  presidency.  The  independency 
of  the  man  found  a  response  in  the  independency  of  the  people. 
Thus  a  plain  man  who  was  as  largely  developed  in  backbone  as 
in  brain,  so  gained  the  favor  of  the  people  in  these  local  public 
services,  that  he  was  put  into  the  highest  official  place  in  the 
republic. 

ANCESTRY. 

The  law  of  heredity  holds  good  in  the  case  of  Grover  Cleve- 
land. Though  he  has  come  suddenly  out  of  comparative  ob- 
scurity, there  has  come  to  him  a  strong  under-current  of  manly 
power  and  culture,  from  his  ancestors.  He  is  not  a  prodigy  in 
his  family,  nor  in  any  sense  a  new  development.  His  peculiar 
characteristics  are  those  which  have  marked  those  from  whom 
he  is  descended.  His  great-grandfather  was  Aaron  Cleveland, 
of  Connecticut,  who  was  born  at  one  of  the  Haddams  on  the 
Connecticut  river.  He  was  a  man  of  marked  ability  and 
literary  culture,  and  chose  the  ministry  in  which  to  serve  his 
fellow-men  and  develop  his  own  character  and  life.  He  labored 
some  in  Vermont,  but  mostly  in  Connecticut,  where  he  died  in 


GROVER   CLEVELAND..  485 

1815.  One  of  his  sons  was  a  missionary  in  Boston,  where  he 
was  called  "Father  Cleveland/'  both  on  account  of  his  paternal 
character  and  the  great  age  of  one  hundred  years  to  which  he 
lived.  He  died  in  1872.  A  sister  of  Father  Cleveland  and 
aunt  of  Grover  married  Dr.  Samuel  H.  Coxe,  whose  son,  Dr.  A. 
C.  Coxe,  is  Episcopal  Bishop  of  Western  New  York.  The 
second  son  of  the  great-grandfather  was  William,  who  was 
grandfather  of  Grover.  A  son  of  William,  named  Richard,  was 
the  father  of  Grover  Cleveland.  Richard  was  born  at  Norwich, 
Connecticut,  in  1804,  and  graduated  from  Yale  College  in  1824. 
After  teaching  school  for  a  time,  he  studied  theology  at  Prince- 
ton, and  was  ordained  a  Presbyterian  minister  in  1828.  He 
settled  in  Windham,  Connecticut.  In  1829  he  married  the 
daughter  of  Abner  Neall,  of  Baltimore.  He  had  nine  children, 
the  fifth  of  whom  was  Grover.  He  died  at  Holland  Patent,  not 
far  from  Utica,  New  York,  1853. 

BIRTH   AND   EDUCATION. 

Grover  Cleveland  was  born  at  Caldwell,  New  Jersey,  March 
18,  1837.  He  was  named  Stephen  Grover,  from  his  father's 
predecessor  in  the  pastorate.  But  in  his  early  youth,  with  his 
characteristic  independence,  he  dropped  the  Stephen,  because 
his  family  and  everybody  else  called  him  only  Grover,  and  he 
liked  best  to  have  it  so.  It  is  said  that  the  two-story-and-a-half 
wooded  house  in  which  he  was  born  still  stands.  He  retains 
but  the  dimmest  recollections  of  his  birthplace,  from  which  he 
was  taken  soon  after  he  was  three  years  old.  The  family  went 
to  Fayettsville,  near  Syracuse,  New  York,  in  the  hope  of  a  bet- 
ter income  and  a  larger  field  of  labor  for  the  hard-working 
clergyman.  At  Fayetteville  Grover  began  his  education  in  such 
schools  as  the  place  afforded.  They  did  this  good  thing  for 
him:  they  gave  him  a  desire  for  a  better  education  than  they 
could  give.  He  was  anxious  to  go  to  an  academy,  and  probably 
his  parents  were  as  anxious  as  he,  but  their  small  income  and 
the  many  wants  of  their  large  family  forbade  ;  so  he  was  put 
into  a  store  instead,  to  help  earn  something  for  the  support  of 
the  family.  His  wages  were  to  be  $50  for  the  first  year,  and 


486  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

$100  for  the  second.  Neither  gossips  nor  chroniclers  have  re- 
ported anything  of  his  conduct  in  the  store  or  village,  otherwise 
than  that  he  did  his  duty  and  behaved  well. 

While  he  was  yet  in  early  youth  the  family  removed  to  Clin- 
ton, where  his  craving  for  academic  opportunities  was  gratified. 
He  entered  zealously  into  his  studies  and  made  good  progress. 
Bnt  all  too  soon  for  his  ambitions,  the  family  went  to  Holland 
Patent  a  village  of  five  or  six  hundred  inhabitants,  where  his 
father  had  preached  but  a  few  Sundays  when  he  suddenly  died. 
This  changed  the  whole  outlook  of  life  for  Grover,  who  was 
making  good  progress  in  his  studies  and  dreaming  of  going  on 
to  satisfy  his  scholarly  ambitions  in  a  full  course  of  academic 
study. 

A    TEACHER.  . 

No  more  study  for  the  present ;  no  more  dreams  of  academic 
attainments  and  honors.  A  living  now  was  to  be  had — a  way 
found  for  self-support.  The  boy  must  turn  into  a  man,  the 
dreaming  youth  into  a  practical  plodder.  The  father  was  gone  ; 
the  mother  must  toil,  plan  and  sacrifice.  An  elder  brother  had 
charge  of  instruction  in  a  blind  asylum  in  New  York.  Another 
teacher  was  wanted,  and  Grover  was  employed ;  so  he  set  out  for 
New  York  to  enter  into  that  work  of  care,  responsibility  and 
study  of  human  nature,  as  well  as  books,  which  is  one  of  the  best 
possible  disciplines  in  preparation  for  successful  manhood.  In 
our  modern  civilization,  teaching  is  the  stepping-stone  to  more 
professional  and  literary  success  than  any  other  one  employment 
for  the  young.  So  Grover  was  on  the  hard-beaten  road  to 
success.  But  he  was  not  enamored  of  this  employment,  though 
he  did  it  with  conscientious  intelligence,  as  he  does  whatever  he 
undertakes.  His  two  years  were  soon  out,  and  with  them  there 
came  dreams  of  opportunities  and  fortunes  in  the  great  west  of 
which  everybody  was  talking. 

"GO   WEST,    YOUNG    MAN"," 

was  Horace  Greeley's  standing  advice  to  young  men  who  had 
verything  to  make.  Young  Cleveland  thought  it  meant  that  he 
was  the  one  to  go,  so  in  company  with  a  youthful  companion  he 


GKOVER   CLEVELAND.  487 

started  westward  to  seek  his  fortune.  Cleveland,  Ohio,  was 
then  a  western  place  of  considerable  note.  As  it  bore  his  name 
it  had  one  attraction  for  him.  The  young  men  started  for 
Cleveland,  hoping  there  to  find  employment,  and  a  way  to  begin 
life  for  themselves  in  the  great  western  world.  Their  route  lay 
through  Buffalo.  Grover  had  an  uncle  in  that  city,  or  a  little 
north  of  it,  on  the  Niagara  river.  This  uncle,  Lewis  F.  Allen, 
was  a  stock  raiser,  who  had  a  fine  home,  just  where  Lake  Erie 
narrows  into  the  Niagara  river.  The  house  is  palatial,  built  of 
stone  ;  it  is  already  old,  but  looks  as  though  it  was  good  for  five 
hundred  more  years.  The  young  man  of  course,  must  visit  his 
uncle.  The  result  was  that  he  found  employment  with  him, 
and  a  home  in  his  hospitable  residence.  Mr.  Allen  is  now  a  fine 
old  gentleman  of  seventy-five,  who  takes  great  pleasure  in  an- 
swering inquiries  concerning  his  now  distinguished  nephew.  He 
is  one  of  Buffalo's  solid  men,  who  indicates  the  stock  to  which 
Mr.  Cleveland  belongs.  He  looks,  like  his  solid  house,  as 
though  he  had  many  years  of  strong  service  yet  before  him. 

A    STUDENT   AT   LAW. 

How  long  he  had  desired  to  study  law  has  not  been  made 
public,  but  now  that  young  Cleveland  was  so  near  good  oppor- 
tunities to  gratify  that  desire  which  had  now  become  strong,  lie 
entered  into  an  arrangement  with  Rogers,  BoAven  and  Rogers, 
to  become  a  student  in  their  office  and  assist  as  their  clerk. 
Here  was  a  good  beginning.  This  was  a  strong  firm,  and  he 
had  strong  backing  in_  his  solid  uncle.  Mr.  Cleveland  became 
an  industrious  student  at  once,  and  went  on  through  four  years, 
fitting  himself  for  a  thorough  lawyer,  and  winning  the  confi- 
dence of  the  men  under  whom  he  studied,  and  the  students  in 
the  office.  One  of  them  makes  this  statement  concerning  him  : 
"  Grover  won  our  admiration  by  his  three  traits  of  indomitable 
industry,  unpretentious  courage  and  unswerving  honesty.  I 
never  saw  a  more  thorough  man  at  anything  he  undertook. 
Whatever  the  subject  was,  he  was  reticent  until  he  had  mastered 
all  its  bearings  and  made  up  his  own  mind — and  then  nothing 
could  swerve  him  from  his  conviction.  It  was  this  quality  of 


488  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

intellectual  integrity  more  than  anything  else,  perhaps,  that 
made  him  afterward  listened  to  and  respected,  when  more  bril- 
liant men  who  were  opposed  to  him  were  applauded  and  for- 
gotten. 

After  Mr.  Cleveland's  admission  to  the  bar  in  1859,  he  re- 
mained with  the  firm  with  which  he  had  studied. 

ASSISTANT  DISTRICT   ATTORNEY. 

While  he  was  yet  in  this  office  there  was  to  be  appointed  an 
assistant  district  attorney.  The  young  men  in  the  office  dis- 
cussed the  merits  of  the  young  members  of  the  bar  in  relation  to 
the  office,  and  they  were  of  one  opinion,  that  Grover  Cleveland 
was  the  man  for  it.  Their  good  opinion  was  approved,  for  he 
was  appointed  to  the  place  in  1863.  This  was  his  first  step  into 
public  position.  But  he  justified  the  confidence  that  had  been 
placed  in  him,  for  with  constant  industry  and  assiduous  study 
he  applied  himself  to  the  duties  of  his  office;  and  soon  became 
master  of  all  its  details,  and  though  assistant,  was  entrusted 
with  the  most  of  the  business  and  responsibilities  of  the  district 
attorney  himself.  This  was  of  double  service  to  him ;  it 
trained  him  in  the  work  of  the  office  and  secured  for  him  the 
abiding  confidence  of  those  who  knew  of  the  intelligence,  in- 
dustry and  integrity  he  gave  to  his  public  duties.  It  was  a 
beginning  which  pointed  to  the  later  succsses  in  his  public 
career. 

During  this,  his  first  term  of  office,  he  was  drafted  as  a  sol- 
d'er,  to  fill  the  New  York  quota  in  the  army  to  put  down  the 
rebellion.  He  promptly  supplied  a  substitute  and  went  on  with 
the  duties  of  the  office  to  the  end  of  the  term  for  which  he  was 
appointed. 

He  was  at  once  nominated  by  his  political  friends  for  the 
office  of  district  attorney.  The  Republicans  nominated  Lyman 
K.  Bass,  who  was  elected,  so  everywhere  triumphant  were  the 
Republicans  in  those  last  years  of  the  war.  But  Mr.  Cleveland 
had  established  a  reputation  for  intelligence,  integrity  and  in- 
dustry in  office,  which  would  keep  and  come  into  service  in  the 
great  need. 


GROVER   CLEVELAND.  489 


A    NEW    PARTNERSHIP. 

In  1866  Mr.  Cleveland  formed  a  partnership  with  the  late 
I.  K.  Vanderpool,  and  afterwards  with  the  late  A.  P.  Laning 
and  the  late  Oscar  Folsom.  In  these  three  years  Mr.  Cleveland 
applied  himself  diligently  to  his  law  practice.  He  had  started 
to  be  a  thorough  lawyer,  and  he  used  all  his  power  to  secure 
thoroughness  in  his  profession.  This  partnership  closed  in  1869, 
in  consequence  of  Mr.  Cleveland's  election  to  the  office  of 

SHERIFF   OF   ERIE   COUNTY. 

Into  the  duties  of  the  office  of  sheriff  Mr.  Cleveland  carried 
his  accustomed  integrity  and  unpartisan  devotion  to  the  right. 
In  the  duties  of  office  he  did  not  mean  to  know  party.  He  be- 
longed to  a  party,  but  the  office  belonged  to  the  whole  people. 
In  office  he  was  the  servant  of  the  people  -to  perform  all  the 
duties  of  the  office  without  reference  to  party  distinctions  or 
emoluments. 

While  serving  in  this  office  it  twice  became  his  duty  to  exer- 
cise the  extreme  penalty  of  the  law  in  taking  the  life  of  a  man 
found  guilty  of  murder.  It  was  not  his  choice,  but  his  solemn 
duty,  which  he  could  not  shirk.  The  stern  stuff  of  which  Mr. 
Cleveland  is  made  demands  that  duty  shall  be  done,  whomever 
it  may  hurt.  He  is  an  officer  to  enforce  the  law  against  all  who 
violate  it.  He  does  not  choose  those  who  shall  be  punished ; 
the  violators  themselves  do  that.  He  does  not  choose  the  mode 
of  punishment ;  the  law-makers  do  that. 

LEGAL   DISTINCTION. 

At  the  close  of  his  term  of  office  as  sheriff,  Mr.  Cleveland 
formed  a  partnership  with  Lyman  K.  Bass  and  Wilson  S.  Bis- 
sell,  and  gave  himself  anew  to  the  practice  of  law.  The  quali- 
ties which  had  marked  his  official  career  are  applied  to  his  law 
practice,  and  he  builds  up  very  rapidly  a  solid  reputation  as  a 
sound  and  high-minded  lawyer.  He  proved  himself  as  inde- 
pendent at  the  bar,  and  as  just  and  genuine  as  he  had  in  official 
relations,  He  now  had  a  double  distinction  for  probity,  fair- 


490  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

ness  and  un partisan  independence,  and  a  legal  and  official  one, 
which  fitted  him  to  serve  the  community  when  a  reform  of 
abuses  should  be  needed.  And  no  community  has  to  wait  long 
for  need  of  reform.  Abuses  abound.  Buffalo  did  not  wait  long 
before'  a  mayor  was  needed  to  reform  its  flagrant  mal-adminis- 
trations. 

MAYOR   OF   BUFFALO. 

In  1881,  Grover  Cleveland  was  elected  mayor  of  Buffolo  on  a 
Democratic  nomination,  when  the  city  was  strongly  Republican. 
His  nomination  was  a  partisan  one,  but  his  election  was  a  popu- 
lar one,  many  Republicans  voting  for  him  on  account  of  his 
known  unpartisan  administration  of  official  trusts.  Buffalo  had 
its  municipal  political  ring,  who  were  jobbing  out  all  the  city 
affairs  to  their  members.  Corruption  in  office  was  getting  com- 
mon and  preparing  the  way  for  desperate  disregard  of  righteous 
principles.  A  tidal  wave  of  opposition  and  reform  was  started 
which  elected  Mr.  Cleveland  with  a  triumphant  majority.  And 
he  did  not  disappoint  any  true  reformers  who  voted  for  him. 
He  cleansed  the  "  Augean  Stables  "  and  made  such  marked  re- 
forms that  his  name  filled  the  State,  and  became  the  synonym 
of  independent  and  honest  official  action  all  over  the  country. 
In  his  inaugural  message  he  said  : 

"  We  hold  the  money  of  the  people  in  our  hands,  to  be  used 
for  their  purposes  and  to  further  their  interests  as  members  of 
the  municipality,  and  it  is  quite  apparent  that,  when  any  part  of 
the  funds  with  which  the  taxpayers  have  thus  entrusted  us  are 
diverted  to  other  purposes,  or  when,  by  design  or  neglect,  we 
allow  a  greater  sum  to  be  applied  to  any  municipal  purpose  than 
is  necessary,  we  have,  to  that  extent,  violated  our  duty.  There 
surely  is  no  difference  in  his  duties  and  obligations,  whether  a 
person  is  entrusted  with  the  money  of  one  man  or  many.  And 
yet  it  sometimes  appears  as  though  the  office-holder  assumes 
that  a  different  rule  of  fidelity  prevails  between  him  and  the 
taxpayers  than  that  which  should  regulate  his  conduct  when,  as 
an  individual,  he  holds  the  money  of  his  neighbor." 

Mr.  Cleveland  had  been  in  office  but  a  little  while  when  a 
bill  was  passed  by  the  aldermen  and  council,  for  the  purpose  of 


GROVER   CLEVELAND.  491 

giving  an  iniquitous  job  of  street  cleaning  to  some  partisan  job- 
bers who,  in  conjunction  with  the  partisan  members  of  the  city 
government,  had  got  up  a  scheme  to  reward  them  for  their  work 
in  electing  a  democratic  mayor.  This  bill  afforded  him  an  op- 
portunity to  apply  the  principles  of  his  inaugural  address,  which 
he  did  with  his  characteristic  fidelity.  In  his  veto  message  to 
the  two  branches  of  the  city  government,  he  made  use  of  the 
following  not  very  classic,  but  very  direct  language  : 

"This  is  a  time  for  plain  speech,  and  my  objection  to  your 
action  shall  be  plainly  stated.  I  regard  it  as  the  culmination  of 
a  most  bare-faced,  impudent  and  shameless  scheme  to  betray  the 
interests  of  the  people,  and  to  worse  than  squander  the  public 
money.  We  are  fast  gaining  positions  in  the  grades  of  public 
stewardship.  There  is  no  middle  ground.  Those  who  are  not 
for  the  people,  either  in  or  out  of  your  honorable  body,  are 
against  them,  and  should  be  treated  accordingly." 

The  schemers  in  the  city  government  continued  their  parti- 
san plans  to  reward  their  associates,  and  passed  bills  accordingly, 
which  he  vetoed  promptly,  with  his  ringing  reasons  and  a  plain 
statement  of  his  duty,  till  his  vetoes  came  to  be  a  part  of  the  cur- 
rent literature  of  the  day,  with  which  the  New  York  papers  re- 
galed and  pleased  the  people. 

The  interest  of  the  people  in  him  grow  with  the  resoluteness 
of  the  contest  between  him  and  his  partisan  friends  in  Buffalo; 
and  the  shrewd  politicians  of  his  party  saw  that  he  was  making 
capital  for  himself  that  they  could  easily  turn  to  a  partisan 
benefit.  The  republican  party  in  the  state  was  divided  between 
what  were  called  the  " stalwarts"  and  the  "half-breeds."  It  was 
a  favorable  time  to  put  forward  such  a  man  as  Mr.  Cleveland.  No 
other  man  then  so  commanded  the  attention  of  the  state.  Ac- 
cordingly the  democratic  state  convention,  after  much  manip- 
ulation, put  him  in  nomination  for  the  governorship. 

From  the  start  his  prospect  brightened.  All  papers  had 
commended  his  sterling  qualities  as  a  mayor  ;  they  could  not  now 
say  that  such  qualities  were  not  needed  in  the  governor.  Indeed 
everybody  knew  they  were.  It  was  difficult  to  get  up  opposition 
to  him.  His  course  as  mayor  had  disarmed  partisanship.  The 


492  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

tone  of  newspaper  comment  was  much  like  the  following  from 
the  New  York  Sun.  After  referring  to  many  of  his  doings  and 
sayings  as  mayor,  it  said  editorially  : 

"  Grover  Cleveland,  now  mayor  of  Buffalo,  and  democratic 
candidate  for  governor  of  New  York,  is  a  man  worthy  the  high- 
est public  confidence.  No  one  can  study  the  record  of  his  ca- 
reer since  he  held  office  in  Buffalo  without  being  convinced 
that  he  possesses  those  highest  qualities  of  a  public  man  —  sound 
principles  of  administrative  duty,  luminous  intelligence  and 
courage  to  do  what  is  right  no  matter  who  may  be  pleased  or  dis- 
pleased thereby. 

"  We  wish  the  utterances  we  have  now  quoted  might  be  read 
and  pondered  by  every  citizen  in  the  state.  No  matter  what 
political  faith  a  man  may  have  been  educated  in,  no  matter  by 
what  party  name  he  may  now  prefer  to  be  called,  no  one  can  con- 
sider such  principles  and  sentiments  as  these  declared  by  Mr. 
Cleveland,  without  feeling  that  such  a  public  officer  is  worthy  of 
the  confidence  and  support  of  the  whole  people,  and  that  the 
interests  of  the  Empire  State  will  be  entirely  safe  in  his  hands." 

This  was  about  the  way  a  large  majority  of  the  people  felt ; 
and  it  was  not  difficult  to  convince  multitudes  of  the  republi- 
cans of  the  "  half-breed "  faction  that  by  voting  for  him 
they  could  punish  the  "  stalwarts,"  elect  a  good  governor  for 
the  state,  and  not  do  much  for  the  democrats. 

GOVERNOR   OF   NEW   YORK. 

Though  nominated  by  the  democrats,  so  little  had  been  said 
against  Mr.  Cleveland  and  so  much  for  him,  that  it  was  difficult 
to  tell  on  election  day  whose  man  he  was,  such  multitudes  voted 
for  him.  Though  the  republicans  on  a  full  vote  had  a  good 
majority  in  the  state,  he  was  elected  by  a  majority  of  192,854. 

It  expressed  the  popularity  of  the  man.  His  election  made 
him,  not  a  partisan  but  a  popular  governor.  In  his  new  position 
he  came  at  once  into  collision  with  job  schemers  of  both  parties. 
A  scheme  was  at  once  started  in  his  own  city  to  reorganize  the  fire 
department  in  the  interest  of  the  triumphant  democracy,  through 
a  state  enactment,  which  he  promptly  vetoed,  getting  a  volley 


GKOVER   CLEVELAND.  493 

of  democratic  abuse  as  a  reward.  The  rings  and  schemes  of 
both  parties  got  vetoed  as  fast  as  their  corrupt  measures  got  into 
legislative  enactments.  As  a  governor  he  knew  no  party,  but 
only  what  was  right  and  for  the  good  of  the  people.  His  vetoes 
were  always  accompanied  with  a  full  statement  of  his  reasons, 
and  his  reasons  were  always  his  own.  His  veto  of  the  Five-Cent 
Fare  Bill  on  the  elevated  railroad,  in  the  interest  of  capital,  and 
in  the  face  of  the  hue  and  cry  which  was  sure  to  come  up  against 
him  from  the  people  who  called  for  cheap  fare,  indicated  how 
absolutely  he  was  controlled  by  his  convictions.  He  stood  for 
the  rights  of  property  just  as  firmly  as  for  the  rights  of  labor. 
He  vetoed  bills  poorly  drafted,  the  objects  of  which  he  approved, 
just  as  readily  as  bills  well-drafted,  the  objects  of  which  he  did 
not  approve.  He  held  legislators  to  good  work. 

He  reformed  the  pardon  process,  which  for  many  years  had 
been  in  the  hands  of  a  clerk,  who  was  supposed  to  know  all 
about  the  matter.  He  dismissed  the  clerk  and  investigated 
every  case  himself,  and  kept  a  full  record  of  what  was  done. 
Incompetency  and  abuse  found  no  favor  at  his  hands.  He  did 
away  with  the  "red-tape"  processes  which  shut  the  governor 
away  from  the  people  and  took  his  seat  at  his  desk  in  an  office, 
open  to  all  comers,  and  went  to  work  like  any  hard  working 
man,  bound  to  do  his  duty.  An  intense  worker  always,  he  car- 
ried his  working  habits  to  Albany,  and  set  all  the  people  an  ex- 
ample of  laborious  industry.  It  is  said  that  no  governor  of  New 
York  ever  worked  more  hours  or  under  more  intelligent  and 
efficient  methods. 

His  plain,  simple  democratic  habits  made  him  one  of  the 
people.  Elevation  did  not  change  him.  His  dignity  is  natural 
to  him.  His  affability  is  not  put  on.  He  cannot  play  a  part, 
but  is  always  himself  —  honest,  straightforward  Grover  Cleve- 
land. 

Mr.  Cleveland's  independent  and  unpartisan  course  through  his 
entire  official  career  turned  the  attention  to  him  from  all  quar- 
ters as  a  possible  candidate  of  his  party,  for  the  presidency  in 
1884.  The  republicans  had  been  twenty-four  years  in  power; 
were  strongly  entrenched,  and  held  a  popular  majority  of  the 


494:  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

voters  of  the  country,  but  fiad  internal  dissentions  over  the  civil 
service  and  liquor  questions.  The  democrats  had  the  "solid 
South,"  and  if  New  York  could  be  carried  for  them,  there  Avas  a 
possible  chance  to  secure  an  election.  Gov.  Cleveland's  popular- 
ity in  New  York  pointed  to  him  as  the  man  who  could  possibly  be 
elected.  He  was  distasteful  to  the  strongly  partisan  of  his  party, 
but  their  repugnance  was  overcome,  so  that  a  majority  in  the 
democratic  convention  in  Chicago,  July,  1884,  was  secured  for 
him  and  he  was  made 

CANDIDATE    FOR   THE   PRESIDENCY. 

The  republican  candidate  was  Hon.  James  G.  Elaine,  who 
had  long  held  public  positions  and  been  subject  to  the  conflicts 
and  criticisms  of  such  publicity.  Governor  Cleveland's  public 
career  had  not  satisfied  his  party,  but  had  met  the  approval  of 
many  of  the  more  independent  republicans.  There  Avere  no 
strictly  party  questions  at  issue.  The  tariff  question  was  nearest 
so;  but  there  were  not  a  few  free-trade  republicans  and  protec- 
tion-tariff democrats.  There  were  no  open  opposers  of  the  civil 
service  reform.  Both  parties  put  on  the  most  winning  face  they 
could  toward  the  liquor  traffic,  and  frowned  upon  the  prohib- 
ition movement ;  except  in  certain  States  where  that  move- 
ment was  triumphant  in  alliance  with  republicans.  On  the 
whole,  there  was  less  vital  principle  at  issue  between  the  parties 
than  had  ever  been  before.  Nearly  all  the  republican  party  had 
contended  for,  was  accepted  as  secured  by  the  whole  country. 

The  prohibitionists  nominated  Governor  St.  John,  of  Kansas, 
and  the  people's  party,  Governor  B.  F.  Butler,  of  Massachusetts, 
both  of  which  helped  to  increase  the  uncertainties  of  the 
canvass. 

In  this  general  lack  of  principle  between  the  two  great  par- 
ties, except  such  as  belonged  to  memory,  the  canvass  soon  degen- 
erated into  personalities,  and  became  one  of  the  most  offensive 
and  dishonorable,  not  to  say  disgusting,  which  the  country  has 
ever  had.  Governor  Cleveland  was  accused  of  common  drunk- 
enness, general  lecherousness  of  character,  low  associations,  dull- 
ness of  intellect,  coarseness  of  sentiment,  and  brutality  of  nature. 


GROVER   CLEVELAND.  495 

The  partisan  papers  were  abusive,  and  often  scurrilous.  All  the 
candidates  suffered  detraction  and  unmerciful  criticism.  Mr. 
Cleveland,  doubtless,  lost  many  votes  by  the  charges  made 
against  his  personal  purity  and  conduct.  Yet,  all  the  while  he 
kept  quietly  attending  to  his  official  duties  at  Albany,  as  though 
the  storm  was  not  raging  around  him. 

After  the  votes  were  cast,  and  while  they  were  being  counted, 
it  soon  became  apparent  that  the  decision  would  turn  upon  the 
vote  of  New  York.  It  was  so  close  that  the  official  returns  must 
decide  it. 

The  independent  republican  vote  in  New  York  was  larger 
than  in  any  other  State.  The  chief  defection  of  the  party  among 
the  "stalwarts"  was  in  that  State,  and  was  particularly  opposed 
to  Mr.  Elaine  for  his  past  associations.  Many  "  half-breed " 
republicans  who  had  helped  to  make  Mr.  Cleveland  governor, 
had  come  to  like  him  for  his  independency  and  integrity.  Many 
of  these  who  did  not  vote  for  him  voted  for  Governor  St.  John, 
making  his  vote  in  that  state  unexpectedly  large.  Several  hun- 
dred Indians,  who  had  usually  voted  with  the  republicans,  voted 
for  Governor  Cleveland,  because  he  had  signed  a  bill  to  make 
their  "medicine  man"  a  legal  practitioner  of  medicine.  The 
vote  for  Governor  Butler  took  some  of  the  disaffected  repub- 
licans ;  so  that  all  these  who  went  from  the  republican  ranks, 
and  others  for  personal  reasons,  made  enough  to  give  Governor 
Cleveland  a  plurality  of  a  few  hundred,  which  secured  for  him 
the  electoral  vote  of  the  State,  and,  therefore,  the  presidency. 

Having  the  "solid  south,"  Governor  Cleveland  received  a 
majority  of  the  electoral  votes,  though  the  popular  majority  of 
the  country  was  pretty  heavy  against  him.  His  election  was  due 
to  his  independency  of  party  dictation.  During  the  interim 
between  his  election  and  inauguration,  he  kept  close  to  his 
duties  and  his  home,  and  gave  little  encouragement  to  partisan 
advisers.  He  kept  his  own  counsels;  heard  much  and  said 
little  ;  gave  the  public  little  knowledge  of  his  advisers,  his  plans 
or  appointments.  The  pack  of  hungry  office-seekers  knew  as 
little  beforehand,  what  to  expect  at  his  hands,  as  did  the  people 
at  large. 


496  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

His  independent  record ;  his  non-commitment  to  any  par- 
tisan measures  or  managers ;  his  taciturnity  and  freedom  from 
obligation  to  any  section,  or  party,  as  he  had  always  worn  his 
party  robes  so  lightly,  gave  him  one  of  the  best  opportunities 
that  any  president  has  ever  had,  to  give  the  country  a  non-par- 
tisan, high-minded,  national  administration,  like  that  of  Wash- 
ington. Many  were  hoping  for  it  who  did  not  help  in  his  elec- 
tion. Slavery,  tariff,  currency,  states'  rights,  internal  improve- 
ments, federal  domination,  over  which  political  battles  had  been 
so  long  fought,  were  past  issues.  Since  the  war  the  country  had 
made  immense  strides,  doubled  in  population  and  trebled  in 
wealth.  It  had  a  sound  national  currency ;  had  outgrown  sec- 
tionalism ;  was  at  the  time  of  his  inauguration  holding  a  world's 
fair  at  New  Orleans,  which  in  magnificence  surpassed  even  the 
great  centennial  exposition  at  Philadelphia  in  1876 ;  had  ac- 
quired great  influence  in  all  countries ;  had  no  unpleasant  rela- 
tions with  any ;  had  so  reduced  the  national  debt  that  it  had 
ceased  to  be  a  burden ;  had  an  abounding  treasury  and  a  clear 
prospect  for  a  new  era  of  peace  and  prosperity.  The  waters 
were  all  moving  to  confer  on  President  Cleveland  a  great  oppor- 
tunity to  give  the  country  a  benificent  administration.  He 
came  in  as  a  new  man  in  politics.  He  had  no  political  enemies. 
The  country  waited  to  have  its  government  well  administered. 

The  finances  of  the  country  were  in  a  trembling  condition. 
For  several  years  business  had  been  at  high  tide,  which  had  led 
to  over-production.  The  granaries  and  warehouses  of  the  coun- 
try were  full  to  overflowing.  Foreign  markets  were  dull, 
because  plenty  abounded  everywhere.  1884  was  an  unusually 
productive  year.  President  Arthur  had  given  the  country  a 
good  business  administration  which  had  stimulated  enterprise 
and  industry.  Yet  the  last  half  of  1884  had  begun  to  show  the 
signs  of  an  approaching  financial  crisis.  Many  banks  of  the 
venturesome  sort  had  failed  ;  stocks  declined  ;  a  general  financial 
feverishness  prevailed.  And  when  it  was  found  that  Mr.  Cleve- 
land was  elected,  and  a  new  administration  was  to  come  in,  in 
opposition  to  the  party  which  had  given  the  country  such  an 
amazing  tide  of  prosperity,  the  hearts  of  many  failed  them,  and 


GROVER   CLEVELAND.  497 

a  general  distrust,  retrenchment  and  curtailment  of  business 
followed,  which  cast  Mr.  Cleveland's  coming  administration  into 
the  shadow  of  a  great  cloud.  The  winter  was  unusually  severe, 
hard  on  the  poor  and  on  business.  On  the  whole,  Mr.  Cleve- 
land assumed  power  under  many  difficulties. 

INAUGURATION. 

On  March  third  Mr.  Cleveland  proceeded  from  Albany  to 
Washington  in  an  unostentatious  way,  in  a  train  of  his  own, 
after  declining  the  offer  of  a  free  and  gorgeous  escort  from  the 
railroads,  that  he  might  be  under  no  obligations  to  individuals 
or  corporations.  On  the  4th  of  March,  1885,  he  was  inaugura- 
ted according  to  the  custom  prescribed  for  such  high  occasions, 
in  the  presence  of  a  vast  concourse  of  people.  His  inaugural 
address  was  brief,  dignified  and  befitting  the  occasion.  In  the 
appointment  of  his  cabinet  he  indicated  a  conservative  tendency. 
With  no  flourish  of  trumpets,  no  public  pledges,  or  promises, 
no  past  record  in  his  way,  calmly  but  apparently  firmly,  he 
began  the  new  role  of  democracy  in  the  country  delivered  from 
slavery  and  sectional  strife,  and  made  eminently  prosperous  and 
powerful  by  the  party  which  had  been  in  power  for  twenty-four 
years. 

Being  unmarried,  he  went  into  the  White  House,  with  his 
youngest  sister, 

MISS   ELIZBETH   CLEVELAND, 

to  be  the  lady  of  honor  in  that  distinguished  place.  A  woman 
of  education  and  marked  intellectual  power,  accustomed  to 
public  address  in  lecturing  on  education,  temperance,  and  wo- 
man's improvement,  an  active  and  honored  member  of  the 
Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union,  reared  and  educated  in 
refined  society  and  accustomed  to  elevated  social  intercourse, 
she  brought  to  his  aid,  in  his  high  position,  exceptional  experi- 
ence to  hold  the  place  of  the  first  woman  of  the  land. 

PERSONAL   APPEARANCE. 

Mr.  Cleveland  is  large,  full-fleshed  and  full-faced  ;  he  wears 
a  slight  mustache,  otherwise  is  clean-faced  with  a  slight  double 
32 


498  OUR    PRESIDENTS. 

chin.  He  tends  to  corpulency,  but  nis  hard  work  and  much 
exercise  keep  him  from  being  overburdened  with  flesh.  He  is 
not  brilliant  in  appearance,  expression  or  action,  but  solid, 
cool-headed,  practical.  His  whole  makeup  is  indicative  of  a 
strong,  reliable  man.  He  is  sympathetic  and  kindly,  but  not 
markedly  demonstrative.  His  democracy,  like  himself,  is  of  the 
real  practical  kind,  not  put  on,  but  genuine.  Plain,  strong, 
common-sensed,  he  appears  what  he  is.  There  is  harmony  be- 
tween his  person  and  his  character.  He  is  a  massive  man,  and 
he  puts  his  massiveness  into  his  actions. 

HIS    FAMILY. 

Mr.  Cleveland  had,  when  made  President,  at  a  few  hours 
before  he  was  forty-eight  years  of  age,  three  sisters  and  a  brother. 
One  sister,  Mrs.  Dr.  Hastings,  has  spent  several  years  as  a  mis- 
sionary in  Ceylon.  His  brother,  William  1ST.,  who  graduated 
from  Hamilton,  is  a  Presbyterian  minister.  He  has  aided  the 
family  since  the  death  of  his  father.  He  attends  the  Presby- 
terian church. 

At  his  entrance  upon  the  duties  of  the  chief  magistracy  of 
the  United  States,  he  had,  apparently,  the  best  of  his  life  be- 
fore him.  The  people  waited  with  no  little  anxiety  to  see  what 
use  he  would  make  of  it,  in  the  trusts  which  had  been  so  early 
committed  to  his  hands,  and  for  which  he  was  so  without  experi- 
ence in  national  affairs. 


BENJAMIN   HARRISON 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 


BENJAMIN  HARBISON. 

TWENTY-THIRD  PRESIDENT  OP  THE  UNITED  STATES. 
ANCESTRY. 

BENJAMIN  HARRISON,  the  twenty-third  president  of 
the  United  States,  is  the  fifth  child  of  John  Scott  Har- 
rison, of  North  Bend,  Ohio,  the  second  son  by  his  second 
marriage.  John  Scott  was  the  third  son  of  William  Henry 
Harrison,  the  ninth  president  of  the  United  States.  Some 
account  of  the  family  history  is  given  in  the  record  of  William 
Henry  Harrison  in  this  volume,  beginning  on  page  273,  which 
should  bo  read  before  reading  this  account  of  his  grandson. 
This  is  the  secoi.d  instance  of  a  president  being  chosen  from 
a  presidential  family.  John  Quincy  Adams,  the  sixth  presi- 
dent, was  the  son  of  John  Adams,  the  second  president.  Now, 
Benjamin  Harrison,  the  twenty-third  president,  is  the  grandson 
of  William  Henry  Harrison,  the  ninth  president.  In  both 
instances,  the  stock  of  the  families  is  as  good  as  the  country 
has  afforded,  not  only  for  intelligence,  but  for  moral  worth  and 
patriotic  service.  The  name,  Benjamin  Harrison,  from  the 
great-grandfather  of  Revolutionary  memory,  associate  of  George 
Washington,  member  of  the  House  of  Burgesses  and  the  Conti- 
nental Congress,  governor  of  Virginia,  signer  of  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  is  redolent  of  patriotism  and  greatness.  The 
grandfather's  fifty  years'  service  to  his  country  gave  still  more 

499 


500  OUR   mESIDCXTS. 

character  to  the  family  name.  John  Scott  Harrison  was  a 
worthy  son  of  William  Henry  Harrison.  Though  a  farmer, 
tilling  all  his  life  the  paternal  acres,  and  proud  of  his  calling, 
he  twice  represented  his  State  in  Congress,  and  was  nominated 
for  lieutenant-governor  of  the  State,  but  declined  the  nomina- 
tion on  account  of  his  home  duties  and  preferences.  He  was  a 
social,  domestic,  religious  man,  but  enjoyed  most  the  good 
things  in  and  around  his  own  home.  Hospitality,  home  cheer, 
helpfulness  to  neighbors  entered  largely  into  his  life.  He  was 
an  easy  and  fluent  speaker,  faithful  to  public  business  when  in 
office,  alive  to  public  affairs,  yet  always  held  strongly  to  home 
and  its  interests.  He  was  an  intense  believer  in  education,  and, 
having  a  large  family,  made  it  the  chief  interest  oJF  his  life  to 
educate  his  children  and  fit  them  for  usefulness. 

HIS   MOTHER. 

The  second  wife  of  John  Scott  Harrison  was  Miss  Elizabeth 
Irwin,  daughter  of  Archibald  Irwin,  of  Mercersburg,  Pa.  She 
was  a  most  womanly  woman,  amiable  in  disposition,  domestic 
in  character,  practical  in  the  application  of  her  excellent 
intelligence  to  her  home  affairs,  of  resolute  and  persistent 
energy,  who  ruled  her  house  by  the  great  respect  and  love  she 
won  from  all  its  members.  Her  wishes  were  their  laws.  As 
wife  and  mother  and  woman  she  made  herself  felt  and  respected 
by  her  well-performed  duties.  She  was  a  devout  Christian 
woman,  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian  church,  and  endeavored 
to  be  faithful  to  all  her  Christian  obligations.  In  such  a  home, 
where  father  and  mother  are  unitedly  devoted  to  the  best 
interests  of  the  family,  the  church  and  the  country,  the 
elements  of  good  character  and  good  citizenship  are  produced 
in  rich  abundance. 

BIRTH   AND   EARLY   LIFE. 

Benjamin  was  born  in  his  grandfather's  house,  at  North 
Bend,  August  20,  1833.  The  farm  which  his  father  cultivate  d 
was  a  part  of  the  Harrison  estate,  lying  three  or  four  '•]•..< 


BENJAMIN"   HARRISON".  501 

south  of  the  old  mansion,  in  which  the  widow  of  the  old 
president  spent  her  later  days.  That  old  mansion  was  the 
scene  of  much  company,  situated,  as  it  was,  only  n/o  miles 
west  of  Cincinnati,  near  the  Ohio  river.  On  the  farm 
Benjamin  had  the  fare  and  the  life  of  a  farmer's  boy  ;  the  best 
fortune  a  boy  can  have. 

In  front  of  his  father's  house,  between  it  and  the  river,  was 
an  old  log  cabin.  Portions  of  the  time  his  father  used  to 
employ  a  teacher,  sometimes  a  man,  sometimes  a  woman,  to 
instruct  his  children,  using  the  old  cabin  for  a  school-house. 
Children  from  other  farms  came  in,  some  to  share  the  benefits 
of  this  school.  When  the  cabin  got  too  dilapidated  the  school 
was  moved  to  a  room  in  the  family  house.  Here  Benjamin  and 
his  brothers  and  sisters  got  the  rudiments  of  an  education,  and 
their  ambition  quickened  for  more. 

But  while  they  were  being  educated  in. the  school  they  were 
also  being  educated  practically  in  the  affairs  of  the  farm. 
Work,  care,  responsibility,  self-dependence,  economy,  all  came 
in  as  a  part  of  that  practical  education,  which  is  the  most 
important  part  of  the  training  of  children  and  youth.  Here 
Benjamin  worked,  played,  grew  and  was  instructed  in  the 
rudiments  of  school  learning  till  he  was  fourteen,  when  ho  was 
put  to  the  study  of  Latin,  preparatory  to  being  sent  away  to  an 
academy.  The  next  year  he  and  his  older  brother  Irwin  went 
to  Carey's  Academy,  just  then  converted  into  Farmer's  College, 
a  few  miles  back  of  Cincinnati.  Here,  while  faithful  to  his 
studies,  Benjamin  got  his.  taste  for  general  reading  greatly 
quickened  by  the  library  of  the  college.  The  works  of  Scott, 
Dickens,  Irving,  Cooper,  Hume  and  Gibbon  became  familiar 
to  him.  The  treasures  of  literature  began  to  fascinate  him. 
The  meaning  of  a  college  and  an  education  grew  larger  to  him. 
Books  became  richer,  knowledge  a  grander  thing,  mind  a 
greater  element  of  manhood  and  character.  At  this  college  the 
boy  was  growing  into  the  man,  life  was  taking  on  new  aspects, 
the  world  was  becoming  richer  in  its  treasures,  and  the 
ambition  for  the  best  things  was  becoming  strong  in  him. 
He  went  into  Farmer's  College  a  farm  boy  in  his  tastes  and 


502  OUR    PRESIDENTS. 

purposes;    in  two  years   he    went   out   of   it   a   student,  with 
altogether  new  aims  and  hopes. 

HIS   COLLEGE    COURSE. 

Benjamin  at  once  entered  Miami  University,  at  Oxford, 
Ohio,  then  a  nourishing  institution.  He  immediately  joined 
one  of  the  college  literary  societies,  and  devoted  himself  with 
much  zeal  to  its  opportunities,  especially  to  its  debates.  He 
had  a  fondness  for  oratorical  exercises,  and  soon  found  that 
success  was  easier  for  him  in  that  line  than  any  other,  and  so 
he  worked  for  it  with  diligence  and  zeal.  He  went  readily  on 
with  his  studies,  taking  a  good  position  in  all  his  classes,  but 
especially  good  in  those  in  history  and  political  economy. 
Next  to  these  the  languages  came  easily  to  him,  though  he  felt 
himself  distanced  by  David  Swing,  his  classmate,  now  the 
great  preacher  of  Chicago. 

A  classmate  says  of  Mr.  Harrison:  "He  had  a  good  voice, 
and  a  pure  diction.  He  talked  easily  and  fluently.  He  never 
seemed  to  regard  life  as  a  joke,  nor  the  opportunities  for 
advancement  as  subjects  for  sport.  As  a  writer  and  speaker  he 
always  did  his  best.  The  subject  of  his  graduating  address 
was  the  'Poor  of  England/ and  his  treatment  of  it  showed 
that  he  had  sounded  both  the  depths  and  causes  of  this 
poverty."  His  whole  career  has  been  illustrative  of  his  desire  to 
save  his  countrymen  from  the  poverty  which  oppresses  the  poor 
of  England.  He  was  a  protectionist  then  ;  he  is  now.  He  was 
ambitious  then,  and  is  still ;  but  it  is  a  commendable  ambition, 
worthy  to  be  patterned  by  the  youth  of  the  country.  In 
college  he  gained  mental  discipline,  a  solid  education,  and  a 
genuine  love  for  history  and  political  science.  This  love  has 
continued,  and  has  shaped  his  public  life  and  won  for  him  the 
high  place  he  occupies.  All  his  public  addresses  show  his 
interest  in  and  ability  to  these  directions.  Even  in  college  he 
showed  the  trend  of  his  power. 

He  graduated  in  a  class  of  sixteen,  June  24,  1852. 


BENJAMIX    IIA1UUSOX.  503 

LAW    STUDIES. 

On  leaving  college  Mr.  Harrison  entered  the  law  office  of 
Stover  &  Gwinne,  of  Cincinnati,  as  a  student  of  law.  His 
taste  for  oratory,  his  interest  in  political  science  and  his  love 
of  debate  inclined  him  to  the  legal  profession.  He  had  been  a 
student  for  six  years  and  had  learned  how  to  study.  This 
acquirement  he  put  into  practice  in  the  study  of  law.  In  due 
time  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  and  had  to  face  the  trying 
questions  of  where  he  should  practice  and  how  get  business  BO 
as  to  live  by  his  practice. 

While  in  Farmer's  College  his  early  inclination  to  religious 
interests  kd  him  to  join  the  Presbyterian  church,  and  while 
in  college  he  was  in  intimate  association  with  his  eight  classmates 
who  entered  the  ministry,  yet  he  held  fast  to  his  conviction 
that  he  ought  to  be  a  lawyer,  and  prosecuted  his  study  till  he 
was  legally  eo  made. 

HIS  MARRIAGE. 

While  at  the  university  the  college  student  had  learned 
something  more  than  the  regular  course  of  study — he  had 
learned  that  it  is  not  good  for  man  to  be  alone.  There  was  in 
Oxford  a  young  ladies'  seminary,  presided  over  by  Dr.  John  W. 
Scott.  That  seminary  and  its  students  attracted  much  atten- 
tion from  the  college  students,  not  less  from  young  Harrison 
than  from  the  rest.  Among  the  young  women  of  the  seminary 
was  Miss  Caroline  W.  Scott,  daughter  of  the  principal,  who 
soon  gained  Mr.  Harrison's  undivided  interest.  Before  he  was 
through  his  law  studies  he  went  back  to  Oxford  and  married 
her,  and  took  her  to  his  father's  home  in  North  Bend.  Oh, 
the  faith  of  youth  !  Oh,  the  courage  of  young  love  !  Without 
money,  or  knowledge  of  the  world,  or  having  tested  their  own 
powers,  they  are  willing  and  enthusiastically  glad  to  take  the 
responsibilities  of  family  life,  and  he  did  so. 

LOCATES   Itf   INDIAXAPOLIS. 

As  soon  as  Mr.  Harrison  was  through  with  his  preparatory 
legal  studies  he  located  in  Indianapolis  to  begin  the  practice  of 


504  OUR   PRESIDENTS. 

law.  He  went  a  stranger  to  a  strange  people,  but  not  a  stranger 
to  the  State  of  Indiana.  Its  history  was  his  family  history. 
His  grandfather  was  the  father  of  the  State.  He  had  cleared 
it  of  Indians  by  a  severe  war  and  great  personal  sacrifices;  he 
had  settled  it,  organized  it  and  civilized  it.  Young  Harrison 
felt  a  pride  in  his  relation  to  the  State  his  ancestor  had  done  BO 
much  for,  and  had  made  one  of  the  great  States  of  the  Union, 
and  he  felt  as  though  it  was  his  State  by  birthright  as  well  as 
by  adoption,  even  though  he  was  born  in  Ohio.  He  went  to 
Indianapolis,  with  faith  in  the  State  as  well  as  in  Providence 
and  himself.  He  anticipated  the  development  and  growth 
which  have  followed. 

At  this  time  he  was  particularly  youthful  in  his  personal 
appearance,  small  and  slender  in  stature,  of  light  complexion, 
gray-blue  eyes,  plainly  dressed,  diffident  and  shy  in  manner. 
One  who  knew  him  says  :  "  At  first  one  wondered  that  a  young 
man  apparently  so  lacking  in  assertion  should  presume  to 
entrust  himself  so  far  from  home.  The  wonder  was  heightened 
when  it  became  known  that  the  fledgling  was  the  grandson  of 
President  William  Henry  Harrison."  But  when  he  spoke  his 
voice  was  pleasant,  his  words  well  chosen,  his  sentences 
complete,  his  intelligence  manifest,  and  his  manliness  felt  at 
once.  He  made  friends  easily  and  held  them  fast. 

Very  soon  after  he  opened  his  office  he  was  appointed  court 
crier,  at  a  salary  of  two  dollars  a  day  in  term  time.  In  this  way 
he  earned  his  first  money.  At  that  time,  as  now,  the  Indian, 
apolis  bar  was  graced  with  strong  practitioners,  so  that  he  must 
compete  with  strength  and  skill  as  well  as  experience.  But  he 
made  friends,  got  business,  and  proved  himself  competent. 
Yet  he  had  a  long  struggle,  in  which  his  total  abstinence  habits 
and  untiring  industry  in  work  and  study  greatly  aided  him. 

In  1860  Mr.  Harrison  was  elected  Eeporter  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  on  the  republican  ticket.  It  was  at  a  general  election, 
and  he  stumped  the  State  in  the  interest  of  the  party.  In  this 
canvass  he  became  well  known,  and  was  elected  with  a  heavy 
majority.  One  who  has  known  him  since  he  entered  1  is 
profession  says  of  him:  "  General  Harrison  is  a  lawyer  by  natural 


BENJAMIN   HARRISON.  505 

gifts.     Probably  no  contemporary  excels  him  in  quickness  of 
comprehension  and  breadth  or  reach  of  judgment. 

A    COLONEL   IN   THE   ARMY. 

Mr.  Harrison  is  a  civilian  through  and  through.  His 
studies,  tastes,  ambitions,  all  relate  to  the  peaceful  interests  of 
men.  Bat  when,  in  1862,  President  Lincoln's  call  for  more 
troops  was  being  answered  slowly  in  Indiana,  he  raised  a  regi- 
ment, drilled  it  and  had  it  mustered  in  as  the  Seventieth 
Indiana.  He  was  made  colonel  of  it,  and,  in  a  brief  time,  it  was 
sent  to  the  front  in  the  middle  division  of  the  Union  army. 
At  this  time  the  war  was  just  coming  to  its  destructive  fury. 
The  two  great  armies  were  drilled,  equipped,  and  ready  to 
grapple  in  deadly  strife.  Soon  the  battles  of  Russelville, 
Resaca,  Cassville,  New  Hope  Church,  Gilgal  Church,  Kenesaw 
Mountain,  Peach  Tree  Creek  and  Nashville  were  fought  in 
quick  succession,  in  all  of  which  he  and  his  regiment  had 
important  parts.  From  the  time  he  reached  the  army  till 
Sherman  started  on  his  great  march  to  the  sea,  he  and  his 
regiment  were  in  the  utmost  activity  in  pursuit  of  the  enemy. 
Similar  activity  was  manifested  in  the  other  divisions  of  the 
great  army  in  Virginia  and  the  Mississippi  Valley,  so  that 
the  necessitous  South  was  soon  overborne  by  the  more  abundant 
and  populous  North.  Mr.  Harrison  enlisted  August  7,  1862 ; 
was  made  colonel  soon  after ;  was  brevetted  brigadier-general 
March  22,  1865,  and  discharged  May  20,  1865.  In  all  his  serv- 
ices he  was  marked  for  kindness  lo  his  men,  courage  in  danger 
.•and  zeal  for  his  country. 

A   POLITICIAN. 

General  Harrison  returned  to  his  home  and  the  practice  of 
ikw  and  law-reporting.  He  became  distinguished  as  a  lawyer — 
too  distinguished  to  be  easily  kept  out  of  the  field  of  politics. 
He  had  positive  opinions  on  all  the  great  questions  of  the  time, 
and  expressed  them  in  many  political  addresses  in  election 
campaigns.  In  1876  the  nomination  for  governor  on  the  repub- 
lican ticket  was  forced  upon  him  when  he  was  away  from 


506  OUR,   PRESIDENTS. 

homo,  and  returning  at  a  late  day  lie  felt  that  he  must  not 
refuse  to  run.  He  lost  the  election,  but  ran  nearly  two  thou- 
sand ahead  of  his  ticket.  He  gained  in  popularity  in  his  party 
by  the  campaign. 

Two  years  later  he  presided  over  the  State  convention  of  his 
party,  and  in  1880  represented  his  State  in  the  National 
Convention  at  Chicago.  In  1884  he  again  represented  his 
State  as  debgate-at-large  in  the  convention  which  nominated 
Mr.  Garfield.  Before  Mr.  Garfield's  name  was  presented  Mr. 
Harrison  was  talked  of  among  the  delegates  as  a  candidate. 
After  Mr.  Garfield's  election  he  urged  Mr.  Harrison  to  accept 
a  place  on  his  cabinet,  but  Mr.  Harrison  modestly  declined. 
Soon  after  he  was  elected  to  the  United  States  Senate,  and 
served  six  years  with  credit  to  his  State.  At  the  Republican 
Convention  in  1888  he  was  nominated  to  the  presidency  of  the 
United  States,  and  elected  in  the  following  autumn. 

On  March  4th,  1889,  at  12  o'clock  noon,  he  was  inaugurated 
the  twenty-third  President  of  the  United  States. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 


ANALYSIS 


THE   AMEEICAN   GOVEKNMEOT. 


}f|||||fHE  original  American  colonies  were  separate  communi- 
ties, living  on  lands  which  they  held  by  charter  from 
the  British  Crown,  and  under  governments  of  their 
own,  sanctioned  by  the  Crown.     They  had  no  legal  rela- 
tions with  each  other. 

September  4,  1774,  the  First  Continental  Congress 
met  and  agreed  upon  a  Bill  of  Eights,  and  united  action  to 
secure  their  rights  under  their  king.  That  Congress  was 
re-appointed  from  year  to  year,  and  constituted  the  government 
under  which  the  revolution  was  carried  on  and  independence 
secured.  Under  that  Congress  the  colonies  were  erected  into 
states. 

This  Continental  Congress,  as  early  as  1777,  began  to 
provide  for  a  general  government  of  the  United  States ;  but  it 
was  not  effected  until  1781,  when  the  Articles  of  Confederation 
Avere  adopted.  But  these  Avere  found  so  inefficient — were  so 
Avithout  power  of  enforcement,  so  subject  to  the  will,  or  Avant  of 
Avill  of  each  state,  that  they  proved  a  rope  of  sand,  and  the 
fruits  of  the  revolution  would  have  been  lost,  had  not  the  people 
unitedly,  through  their  representatives,  formed  a  Constitution 

507 


508  AN"  ANALYSIS   OF 

with  wisdom  and  power  to  guide  them  in  "the  enjoyment  of 
life,  liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness." 

That  constitution  may  well  be  the  perpetual  study  of  the 
American  people  who,  under  its  protecting  and  fostering  pro- 
visions, have  now  increased  to  over  fifty  millions,  and  grown  to 
great  influence  and  power. 

A  brief  analysis  of  these  provisions  will  help  to  an  appreciative 
understanding  of  their  great  value. 

THE   PREAMBLE. 

"WE,  the  people  of  the  United  States,  in  order  to  form  a 
more  perfect  union,  establish  justice,  insure  domestic  tran- 
quility,  provide  for  the  common  defense,  promote  the  general 
welfare,  and  secure  the  blessings  of  liberty  to  ourselves  and  our 
posterity,  do  ordain  and  establish  this  constitution  for  the 
United  States  of  America." 

How  definite,  and  yet  how  Comprehensive  !  "Who  ordained 
and  established  this  constitution?  "We,  the  people."  It  was 
not  ordained  and  established  by  the  states.  That  was  the  way 
the  "Articles  of  Confederation"  were  adopted.  The  states 
adopted  them  one  by  one.  The  states  elected  the  Congress  that 
made  them.  They  were  understood  to  be  a  confederation  of 
states,  and  in  that  was  their  weakness.  Now,  the  people  took 
the  matter  into  their  hands,  held  conventions,  and  appointed 
delegates  to  a  representative  convention  of  the  people  of  the 
United  States  to  form  a  constitution  "for  the  United  States  of 
America."  In  this  preamble,  the  people  gave  a  name  to  their 
government,  stated  its  objects,  and  ordained  and  established 
it.  The  people  are  back  of  the  states  and  control  them  and 
hold  them  to  this  compact.  The  states  are  estopped  by  "the 
people  of  the  United  States"  from  having  anything  to  say 
about  changing,  abrogating  or  seceding  from  the  constitution. 

The  first  object  named  was  to  "form  a  more  perfect  union." 
The  confederation  had  made  a  very  imperfect  union,  and  it  was 
on  the  point  of  falling  utterly  to  pieces.  It  had  no  authority, 
could  enforce  no  law,  collect  no  taxes,  coin  no  money,  punish 
no  crimes.  These  things  were  all  for  the  states  to  enforce,  and 


THE   AMERICAN   GOVERNMENT.  509 

they  could  do  it  or  not  as  they  chose.  Now,  under  the  consti- 
tution, a  more  perfect  and  vigorous  union  —  one  that  should 
have  power  over  all"  the  states  to  enforce  its  laws  within  them, 
was  formed. 

The  second  object  was  to  "establish  justice."  The  states 
might  establish  justice  among  their  own  citizens,  but  experience 
had  proved  that  they  would  not  do  it  toward  those  of  other 
states  and  foreign  nations.  Justice  is  wide  in  its  range  and 
must  embrace  all  who  have  relations  with  us. 

The  third  object  was  to  "insure  domestic  tranquility,"  and 
peace  among  the  states  and  the  citizens  of  each  state. 

The  fourth  object  was  to  "provide  for  the  common  defense." 
Single  states  might  be  unable  to  resist  abuses  and  attacks  from 
foreign  powers.  The  government  would  defend  each  of  its  chil- 
dren and  marshal  all  the  rest  in  the  defense. 

The  fifth  object  was  to  "  promote  the  general  welfare. "  This 
was  a  wide  and  generous  object,  conferring  a  great  power  for  use- 
fulness, making  the  government  a  mighty  hand  of  helpfulness 
to  bear  on  and  up  its  people  to  the  attainment  of  a  high  civil- 
ization. 

The  sixth  object  was  to  "secure  the  blessings  of  liberty  to 
ourselves  and  our  posterity."  This  was  a  general  object  involv- 
ing all  in  one,  which  has  been  realized  to  a  greater  degree  than 
by  any  other  people  in  the  world.  Grandly  have  all  the  objects 
been  realized  under  this  most  beneficent  of  all  human  govern- 
ments. 

ARTICLE  I. 

"  SECTION  1.  All  legislative  powers  herein  granted  shall  be 
vested  in  a  Congress  of  the  United  States,  which  shall  consist  of 
a  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives." 

This  Congress  is  the  law-making  power.  It  was  patterned 
after  the  English  Parliament,  which  our  national  fathers 
thought  was  the  best  pattern  in  the  world. 

The  representatives  are  chosen  by  the  people,  for  two  years  ; 
must  be  not  less  than  twenty-five  years  old ;  "  must  have  been 


510  AN   ANALYSIS   OF 

seven  years  citizens  of  the  United  States/'  and  "be  inhabitants 
of  the  states  in  which  they  are  chosen."  The  pay  of  members 
of  Congress  is  five  thousand  dollars  per  year  and  mileage  at 
twenty  cents  each  way  to  and  from  Washington. 

The  Senate  is  composed  of  two  senators  from  each  state, 
chosen  by  the  legislature,  for  six  years.  A  senator  must  be 
thirty  years  old,  nine  years  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  and 
be  an  inhabitant  of  the  state  in  which  he  is  chosen. 

The  vice-president  of  the  United  States  is  president  of  the 
Senate ;  but  the  representatives  choose  their  speaker.  The 
salary  of  vice-president  is  eight  thousand  dollars  per  year. 

In  cases  of  impeachment.,  charges  are  made  by  the  House 
of  Representatives ;  but  the  trials  are  had  before  the  Senate. 

Congress  assembles  on  the  first  Monday  in  December  of  each 
year. 

All  bills  of  revenue  must  originate  in  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives ;  but  the  Senate  may  propose  amendments. 

Every  bill  must  have  passed  both  the  House  and  the  Senate, 
and  receive  the  approval  of  the  president  before  it  becomes  a 
law.  If  the  president  objects  to  it,  he  returns  it  to  the  House 
in  which  it  originated,  with  his  objections.  Then  if  two  thirds 
of  both  Houses  approve  it,  it  becomes  a  law,  without  the  signa- 
ture of  the  president. 

Congress  has  power  to  raise  revenues,  pay  debts,  provide  for 
the  defense  and  general  welfare  of  the  United  States,  to  borrow 
money,  to  regulate  commerce,  to  establish  a  uniform  rule  of  nat- 
uralization, to  coin  money,  to  fix  the  standard  of  weights  and 
measures,  to  provide  for  the  punishment  of  counterfeiting,  to 
establish  post-offices  and  post  roads,  to  encourage  science  and 
the  arts  by  protecting  authors  and  inventors  in  their  rights,  to 
constitute  tribunals  inferior  to  the  supreme  court,  to  define  and 
punish  crimes  on  the  high  seas,  and  against  the  laws  of  nations, 
to  declare  war,  to  raise  and  support  armies,  to  provide  for  the 
militia  and  its  use,  to  exercise  exclusive  legislation  in  the  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia  and  the  territories,  and  to  make  all  laws 
necessary  for  carrying  these  powers  into  effect. 


THE   AMERICAN   GOVERNMENT.  511 


ARTICLE  II. 

"  SECTION  1.  The  executive  power  shall  be  vested  in  a  presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  of  America.  He  shall  hold  his  office 
during  the  term  of  four  years,  and  together  with  the  vice-presi- 
dent, chosen  for  the  same  term,  be  elected  as  follows  : 

"  Each  state  shall  appoint,  in  such  manner  as  the  legislature 
thereof  may  direct,  a  number  of  electors  equal  to  the  whole  num- 
ber of  senators  and  representatives  to  which  the  state  may  be 
entitled  in  Congress;  but  no  senator  or  representative,  or  person 
holding  an  office  of  trust  or  profit  under  the  United  States, 
shall  be  appointed  an  elector." 

The  duties  of  the  president  are  to  execute  the  laws  of  the 
United  States,  to  command  the  armies,  to  make  treaties,  with 
the  advice  of  the  Senate,  to  appoint  ambassadors,  consuls,  minis- 
ters, judges,  and  all  officers  not  otherwise  provided  for.  For 
details,  see  constitution. 

The  president's  salary  is  fifty  thousand  dollars  per  year. 

ARTICLE  III. 

"SECTION  1.  The  judicial  power  of  the  United  States  shall 
be  vested  in  one  supreme  court,  and  in  such  inferior  courts 
as  Congress  may  from  time  to  time  ordain  and  establish.  The 
judges,  both  of  the  supreme  and  inferior  courts,  shall  hold  their 
offices  during  good  behavior,  and  shall,  at  stated  times, 
receive  for  their  services,  a  compensation  which  shall  not  be 
diminished  during  their  continuance  in  office." 

The  supreme  court  consists  of  nine  members.  There  are  ten 
circuits  in  the  United  States,  and  a  judge  in  each.  There  are 
district  courts,  at  least  one  in  each  state.  There  is  also  a  court 
of  claims. 

These  constitute  the  three  great  divisions  of  the  constitu- 
tion— the  makers,  the  executors,  and  the  judges  of  the  law. 
They  are  so  arranged  as  to  be  sufficiently  independent  of  each 
other,  and  yet  so  related  as  to  work  harmoniously  together  and 
to  hold  each  other  in  check. 


512         AN  ANALYSIS  OF  THE   AMERICAN   GOVERNMENT. 

The  fourth  article  recognizes  the  relations  of  the  states  to 
the  general  government,  and  to  each  other,  and  makes  provis- 
ions for  the  territories  and  new  states.  Amendments  have  been 
made  from  time  to  time,  as  they  have  been  found  needful. 

This  constitution,  brief  and  simple  as  it  is,  has  proved  itself 
the  wisest,  profoundest  and  most  practical  instrument  for  the 
government  of  a  free  and  intelligent  people  that  has  ever  been 
made  in  this  world.  Apparently,  it  has  left  nothing  out,  and 
put  nothing  in  that  was  not  needful.  It  is  worthy  of  the  study 
of  this  great  people  —  of  all  the  people  —  the  frequent  and  oft- 
repeated  study,  that  they  may  know  by  heart  the  great  funda- 
mental law  of  the  nation.  It  should  be  their  political  bible, 
open  on  their  tables  always,  for  personal  and  family  use.  It  has 
been  incorporated  into  this  book,  and  an  analysis  of  it  is  given 
in  this  chapter,  to  put  it  into  many  families,  to  give  it  a  wide 
reading  and  study,  in  connection  with  the  lives  of  the  great  men 
who  have  executed  it  through  the  first  century  of  its  existence. 
It  recognizes  all  the  great  principles  involved  in  our  government 
and  institutions.  It  is  the  solid  bottom  rock  on  which  they  are 
all  founded.  It  is  simple,  yet  not  weak.  It  is  democratic,  yet 
maintains  the  central  power  of  the  whole  as  a  unit,  with  such 
force  and  dignity  as  to  make  it  commanding  over  all  the  parts. 
It  maintains  the  rights  of  the  individual  and  the  authority  of 
the  government  with  equal  ease  and  force.  It  is  almost  a 
divine  balance  of  these  two  factions ;  and  in  this  consists  its 
marvelous  excellency.  Under  it,  the  states  and  individuals 
exist  with  equal  freedom  and  protection  —  in  what  may  be  called 
a  dependent  independence. 


THE  CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  513 


CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  iNITED  §TATES. 

WE,  the  people  of  the  United  States,  in  order  to  form  a 
more  perfect  union,  establish  justice,  insure  domestic  tranquility, 
provide  for  the  common  defense,  promote  the  general  welfare 
and  secure  the  blessings  of  liberty  to  ourselves  and  our  posterity, 
do  ordain  and  establish  this  Constitution  for  the  United  States 
of  America. 

ARTICLE    I. 

SECTION  1.  All  legislative  powers  herein  granted  shall  be 
vested  in  a  Congress  of  the  United  States,  which  shall  consist 
of  a  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives. 

SEC.  2.  The  House  of  Representatives  .shall  be  composed  of 
members  chosen  every  second  year  by  the  people  of  the  several 
states,  and  the  electors  in  each  state  shall  have  the  qualifications 
requisite  for  electors  of  the  most  numerous  branch  of  the  State 
Legislature. 

No  person  shall  be  a  representative,  who  shall  not  have 
attained  to  the  age  of  twenty-five  years,  and  been  seven  years  a 
citizen  of  the  United  States,  and  who  shall  not  when  elected,  be 
an  inhabitant  of  that  state  in  which  he  shall  be  chosen. 

Representatives  and  direct  taxes  shall  be  apportioned  among 
the  several  states  which  may  be  included  within  this  union, 
according  to  their  respective  numbers,  which  shall  be  deter- 
mined by  adding  to  the  whole  number  of  free  persons,  including 
those  bound  to  service  for  a  term  of  years,  and  excluding  Indians 
not  taxed,  three  fifths  of  all  other  persons.  The  actual  enu- 
meration shall  be  made  within  three  years  after  the  first  meet- 
ing of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  and  within  every 
subsequent  term  of  ten  years,  in  such  manner  as  they  shall  by 
law  direct.  The  number  of  representatives  shall  not  exceed  one 
for  every  thirty  thousand,  but  each  state  shall  have  at  least  one 
representative  ;  and  until  such  enumeration  shall  be  made,  the 
state  of  New  Hampshire  shall  be  entitled  to  choose  three, 


514  TtfE   CONSTITUTION   OF 

Massachusetts  eight,  Rhode  Island  and  Providence  plantations 
one,  Connecticut  five,  New  York  six,  New  Jersey  four,  Penn- 
sylvania eight,  Delaware  one,  Maryland  six,  Virginia  ten,  North 
Carolina  five,  South  Carolina  five,  and  Georgia  three.  When 
vacancies  happen  in  the  representation  from  any  state,  the 
executive  authority  thereof  shall  issue  writs  of  election  to  fill 
such  vacancies. 

The  House  of  Representatives  shall  choose  their  speaker  and 
other  officers  :  and  shall  have  the  sole  power  of  impeachment. 

SEC.  3.  The  Senate  of  the  United  States  shall  be  com- 
posed of  two  senators  from  each  state,  chosen  by  the  Legislature 
thereof  for  six  years,  and  each  senator  shall  have  one  vote. 

Immediately  after  they  shall  be  assembled  in  consequence  of 
the  first  election  they  shall  be  divided  as  equally  as  may  be  into 
three  classes.  The  seats  of  the  senators  of  the  first  class  shall 
be  vacated  at  the  expiration  of  the  second  year ;  of  the  second 
class  at  the  expiration  of  the  fourth  year,  and  of  the  third  class 
at  the  expiration  of  the  sixth  year,  so  that  one  third  may  be 
chosen  every  second  year ;  and  if  vacancies  happen,  by  resigna- 
tion or  otherwise,  during  the  recess  of  the  Legislature  of  any 
state,  the  executive  thereof  may  make  temporary  appointments 
until  the  next  meeting  of  the  Legislature,  which  shall  then  fill 
such  vacancies. 

No  person  shall  be  a  senator  who  shall  not  have  attained  to 
the  age  of  thirty  years  and  been  nine  years  a  citizen  of  the 
United  States,  and  who  shall  not,  when  elected,  be  an  inhab- 
itant of  that  state  for  which  he  shall  be  chosen. 

The  vice-president  of  the  United  States  shall  be  president  of 
the  Senate,  but  shall  have  no  vote  unless  they  be  equally  divided. 

The  Senate  shall  choose  their  other  officers,  and  also  a  pres- 
ident pro  tempore,  in  the  absence  of  the  vice-president,  or  when 
he  shall  exercise  the  office  of  president  of  the  United  States. 

The  Senate  shall  have  the  sole  power  to  try  all  impeach- 
ments. When  sitting  for  that  purpose  they  shall  be  on  oath  or 
affirmation. 

When  the  president  of  the  United  States  is  tried,  the  chief 
justice  shall  preside,  and  no  person  shall  be  convicted  without 


THE   UNITED   STATES.  515 

the  concurrence  of  two  thirds  of  the  members  present.  Judg- 
ment in  cases  of  impeachment  shall  not  extend  further  than  to 
removal  from  office,  and  disqualification  to  hold  and  enjoy  any 
office  of  honor,  trust  or  profit  under  the  United  States,  but  the 
party  convicted  shall,  nevertheless,  be  liable  and  subject  to 
indictment,  trial,  judgment  and  punishment,  according  to  law. 

SEC.  4.  The  times,  places  and  manner  of  holding  elections 
for  senators  and  representatives  shall  be  prescribed  in  each 
state  by  the  Legislature  thereof,  but  the  Congress  may  at  any 
time,  by  law,  make  or  alter  such  regulations,  except  as  to 
the  places  of  choosing  senators. 

The  Congress  shall  assemble  at  least  once  in  every  year,  and 
such  meeting  shall  be  on  the  first  Monday  in  December,  unless 
they  shall  by  law  appoint  a  different  day. 

SEC.  5.  Each  House  shall  be  the  judge  of  the  elections, 
returns  and  qualifications  of  its  own  members,  and  a  majority 
of  each  shall  constitute  a  quorum  to  do  business ;  but  a  smaller 
number  may  adjourn  from  day  to  day,  and  may  be  authorized 
to  compel  the  attendance  of  absent  members,  in  such  manner 
and  under  such  penalties  as  each  House  may  provide. 

Each  House  may  determine  the  rules  of  its  proceedings, 
punish  its  members  for  disorderly  behavior,  and  with  the  con- 
currence of  two  thirds,  expel  a  member.  Each  House  shall 
keep  a  journal  of  its  proceedings,  and  from  time  to  time  publish 
the  same,  excepting  such  parts  as  may  in  their  judgment  require 
secrecy  ;  and  the  yeas  and  nays  of  the  members  of  either  House 
on  any  question  shall,  at  the  desire  of  one  fifth  of  those  present, 
be  entered  on  the  journal. 

Neither  House  during  the  session  of  Congress  shall,  without 
the  consent  of  the  other,  adjourn  for  more  than  three  days,  nor 
to  any  other  place  than  that  in  which  the  two  Houses  shall  be 
sitting. 

SEC.  6.  The  senators  and  representatives  shall  receive  a 
compensation  for  their  services,  to  be  ascertained  by  law,  and 
paid  out  of  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States.  They  shall,  in 
all  cases  except  treason,  felony  and  breach  of  the  peace,  be  priv- 
ileged from  arrest  during  their  attendance  at  the  session  of  their 


516  THE  CONSTITUTION  OP 

respective  Houses,  and  in  going  to  and  returning  from  the 
same  ;  and  for  any  speech  or  debate  in  either  House,  they  shall 
not  be  questioned  in  any  other  place. 

No  senator  or  representative  shall,  during  the  time  for  which 
he  was  elected,  be  appointed  to  any  civil  office  under  the 
authority  of  the  United  States,  which  shall  have  been  created, 
or  the  emoluments  whereof  shall  have  been  increased  during 
such  time ;  and  no  person  holding  any  office  under  the  United 
States,  shall  be  a  member  of  either  House  during  his  continuance 
in  office. 

SEC.  7.  All  bills  for  raising  revenue  shall  originate  in  the 
House  of  Representatives ;  but  the  Senate  may  propose  or 
concur  with  amendments,  as  on  other  bills.  Every  bill  which 
shall  have  passed  the  House  of  Representatives  and  the  Senate, 
shall,  before  it  becomes  a  law,  be  presented  to  the  President  of 
the  United  States.  If  he  approve,  he  shall  sign  it,  but  if  not, 
he  shall  return  it,  with  his  objections  to  that  House  in  which  it 
shall  have  originated,  who  shall  enter  the  objections  at  large  on 
their  journal,  and  proceed  to  reconsider  it.  If,  after  such  recon- 
sideration, two  thirds  of  that  House  shall  agree  to  pass  the  bill, 
it  shall  be  sent,  together  with  the  objections,  to  the  other  House, 
by  which  it  shall  likewise  be  reconsidered,  and  if  approved  by 
two  thirds  of  that  House,  it  shall  become  a  law.  But  in  all 
such  cases  the  votes  of  both  Houses  shall  be  determined  by 
yeas  and  nays,  and  the  names  of  the  persons  voting  for  and 
against  the  bill  shall  be  entered  on  the  journal  of  each  House 
respectively.  If  any  bill  shall  not  be  returned  by  the  President 
within  ten  days  (Sundays  excepted)  after  it  shall  have  been  pre- 
sented to  him,  the  same  shall  be  a  law,  in  like  manner  as  if  he 
had  signed  it,  unless  the  Congress  by  their  adjournment  prevent 
its  return,  in  which  case  it  shall  not  be  a  law. 

Every  order,  resolution  or  vote  to  which  the  concurrence  of 
the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  may  be  necessary  (except 
on  a  question  of  adjournment)  shall  be  presented  to  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States ;  and  before  the  same  shall  take 
effect,  shall  be  approved  by  him,  or  being  disapproved  by  him, 
shall  be  repassed  by  two  thirds  of  the  Senate  and  House  of 


THE   UNITED    STATES.  517 

.Representatives,  according  to  the  rules  and  limitations   pre- 
scribed in  the  case  of  a  bill. 

SEC.  8.  The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  lay  and  collect 
taxes,  duties,  imposts  and  excises,  to  pay  the  debts  and  provide  for 
the  common  defense  and  general  welfare  of  the  United  States  ; 
but  all  duties,  imposts  and  excises  shall  be  uniform  throughout 
the  United  States ; 

To  borrow  money  on  the  credit  of  the  United  States; 

To  regulate  commerce  with  foreign  nations,  and  among  the 
several  states,  and  with  the  Indian  tribes; 

To  establish  a  uniform  rule  of  naturalization,  and  uniform 
laws  on  the  subject  of  bankruptcies  throughout  the  United 
States; 

To  cr>vn  money,  regulate  the  value  thereof,  and  of  foreign 
coin,  and  fix  the  standard  of  weights  and  measures; 

To  provide  for  the  punishment  of  counterfeiting  the  securi- 
ties and  current  coin  of  the  United  States; 

To  establish  post-offices  and  post  roads; 

To  promote  the  progress  of  science  and  useful  arts,  by  secur- 
ing for  limited  times  to  authors  and  inventors,  the  exclusive 
right  to  their  respective  writings  and  discoveries; 

To  constitute  tribunals  inferior  to  the  supreme  court; 

To  define  and  punish  piracies  and  felonies  committed  on  the 
high  seas,  and  offenses  against  the  law  of  nations; 

To  declare  war,  grant  letters  of  marque  and  reprisal,  and 
make  rules  concerning  captures  on  land  and  water; 

To  raise  and  support  armies,  but  no  appropriation  of  money 
to  that  use  shall  be  for  a  longer  term  than  two  years; 

To  provide  and  maintain  a  navy; 

To  make  rules  for  the  government  and  regulation  of  the  land 
and  naval  forces; 

•  To  provide  for  calling  forth  the  militia,  to  execute  the  laws 
of  the  union,  suppress  insurrections  and  repel  invasions; 

To  provide  for  organizing,  arming,  and  disciplining  the 
militia,  and  for  governing  such  part  of  them  as  may  be  employed 
in  the  service  of  the  United  States,  reserving  to  the  states 
respectively  the  appointment  of  the  officers,  and  the  authority 


518  THE    CONSTITUTION   OF 

of  training  the  militia,  according  to  the  discipline  prescribed  by 
Congress; 

To  exercise  exclusive  legislation  in  all  cases  whatsoever,  over 
such  district  (not  exceeding  ten  miles  square)  as  may,  by  cession 
of  particular  states,  and  the  acceptance  of  Congress,  become  the 
seat  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  and  to  exercise 
like  authority  over  all  places  purchased  by  the  consent  of  the 
legislature  of  the  state  in  which  the  same  shall  be,  for  the  erec- 
tion of  forts,  magazines,  arsenals,  dockyards  and  other  needful 
buildings, 

And  to  make  all  laws  which  shall  be  necessary  and  proper  for 
carrying  into  execution  the  foregoing  powers,  and  all  other 
powers  vested  by  this  constitution,  in  the  government  of  the 
United  States,  or  in  any  department,  or  office  thereof. 

SEC.  9.  The  migration  or  importation  of  such  persons  as 
any  of  the  states  now  existing  shall  think  proper  to  admit,  shall 
not  be  prohibited  by  the  Congress,  prior  to  the  year  one  thou- 
sand eight  hundred  and  eight,  but  a  tax  or  duty  may  be  imposed 
on  such  importation,  not  exceeding  ten  dollars  for  each  person. 

The  privilege  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  shall  not  be  sus- 
pended, unless  where  in  cases  of  rebellion  or  invasion  the  pub- 
lic safety  may  require  it. 

No  bill  of  attainder  or  ex  post  facto  law  shall  be  passed. 

No  capitation  or  other  direct  tax  shall  be  laid  unless  in  pro- 
portion to  the  census  or  enumeration  herein  before  directed  to  be 
taken. 

No  tax  or  duty  shall  be  laid  on  articles  exported  from  any 
state. 

No  preference  shall  be  given  by  any  regulation  of  commerce 
or  revenue  to  the  ports  of  one  state  over  those  of  another ;  nor  shall 
vessels  bound  to  or  from  one  state  be  obliged  to  enter,  clear  or 
pay  duties  in  another. 

No  money  shall  be  drawn  from  the  treasury,  but  in  conse- 
quence of  appropriations  made  by  law,  and  a  regular  statement 
and  account  of  the  receipts  and  expenditures  of  ail  public 
money  shall  be  published  from  time  to  time. 

No  title  of  nobility  shall  be  granted  by  the  United  States ; 


THE   UNITED    STATES.  519 

and  no  person  holding  any  office  of  profit  or  trust  under  them, 
shall,  without  the  consent  of  the  Congress,  accept  of  any  present, 
emolument,  office  or  title,  of  any  kind  whatever,  from  any  king, 
prince,  or  foreign  state. 

SEC.  10.  No  state  shall  enter  into  any  treaty,  alliance  or 
confederation,  grant  letters  of  marque  and  reprisal,  coin  money, 
emit  bills  of  credit,  make  anything  but  gold  and  silver  coin  a 
tender  in  payment  of  debts,  pass  any  bill  of  attainder,  ex  post 
facto  law,  or  law  impairing  the  obligation  of  contracts,  or  grant 
any  title  of  nobility. 

No  state  shall,  without  the  consent  of  the  Congress,  lay  any 
imposts  or  duties  on  imports  or  exports,  except  what  may  be 
absolutely  necessary  for  executing  its  inspection  laws ;  and  the 
net  produce  of  all  duties  and  imports,  laid  by  any  state  on  im- 
ports or  exports,  shall  be  for  the  use  of  the  treasury  of  the 
United  States ;  and  all  such  laws  shall  be  subject  to  the  revision 
and  control  of  the  Congress. 

No  state  shall,  without  the  consent  of  Congress,  lay  any  duty 
of  tonnage,  keep  troops,  or  ships  of  war  in  time  of  peace,  enter 
into  any  agreement  or  compact  with  another  state,  or  with  a 
foreign  power,  or  engage  in  war,  unless  actually  invaded,  or  in 
such  imminent  danger  as  will  not  admit  of  delay. 

AKTICLE  II. 

SECTION  1.  The  executive  power  shall  be  vested  in  a  presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  of  America.  He  shall  hold  his  office 
during  a  term  of  four  years,  and,  together  with  the  vice-presi- 
dent, chosen  for  the  same  term,  be  elected  as  follows :  Each 
state  shall  appoint,  in  such  manner  as  the  Legislature  thereof 
may  direct,  a  number  of  electors  equal  to  the  whole  number  of 
senators  and  representatives  to  which  the  state  may  be  entitled 
in  the  Congress  :  but  no  senator  or  representative  or  person 
holding  an  office  of  trust  or  profit  under  the  United  States  shall 
be  appointed  an  elector. 

The  Congress  may  determine  the  time  of  choosing  the 
electors,  and  the  day  on  which  they  shall  give  their  votes, 
which  day  shall  be  the  same  throughout  the  United  States. 


520  THE   CONSTITUTION   OF 

No  person,  except  a  natural  born  citizen,  or  a  citizen  of  the 
United  States  at  the  time  of  the  adoption  of  this  constitution, 
shall  be  eligible  to  the  office  of  president ;  neither  shall  any 
person  be  eligible  to  that  office  who  shall  not  have  attained  to 
the  age  of  thirty-five  years,  and  been  fourteen  years  a  resident 
within  the  United  States. 

In  case  of  the  removal  of  the  president  from  office,  or  of  his 
death,  resignation  or  inability  to  discharge  the  powers  and 
duties  of  the  said  office,  the  same  shall  devolve  on  the  vice-presi- 
dent, and  the  Congress  may  by  law  provide  for  the  case  of 
removal,  death,  resignation,  or  inability,  both  of  the  president 
and  vice-president,  declaring  what  officer  shall  then  act  as 
president,  and  such  officer  shall  act  accordingly,  until  the  disa- 
bility be  removed,  or  a  president  shall  be  elected. 

The  president  shall,  at  stated  times,  receive  for  his  services 
a  compensation,  Avhich  shall  neither  be  increased  nor  diminished 
during  the  period  for  which  he  shall  have  been  elected,  and  he 
shall  not  receive  within  that  period  any  other  emolument  from 
the  United  States,  or  any  of  them. 

Before  he  enter  on  the  execution  of  his  office,  he  shall  take 
the  following  oath  or  affirmation:  "I  do  solemnly  swear  (or 
affirm)  that  I  will  faithfully  execute  the  office  of  president  of 
the  United  States,  and  will  to  the  best  of  my  ability,  preserve, 
protect  and  defend  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States." 

SEC.  2.  The  president  shall  be  commander  in  chief  of  the 
army  and  navy  of  the  United  States,  and  of  the  militia  of  the 
several  states,  when  called  into  the  actual  service  of  the  United 
States  ;  he  may  re'quire  the  opinion  in  writing,  of  the  principal 
officer  in  each  of  the  executive  departments  upon  any  subject 
relating  to  the  duties  of  their  respective  offices,  and  he  shall 
have  power  to  grant  reprieves  and  pardons  for  offenses  against 
the  United  States,  except  in  cases  of  impeachment. 

He  shall  have  power,  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of 
the  Senate,  to  make  treaties,  provided  two  thirds  of  the  senators 
present  concur ;  and  he  shall  nominate,  and  by  and  with  the 
advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate,  shall  appoint  ambassadors, 
other  public  ministers  and  consuls,  judges  of  the  supreme  court, 


THE   UNITED   «,TATES.  521 

and  all  other  officers  of  the  United  States,  whose  appointments 
are  not  herein  otherwise  provided  for,  and  which  shall  be  estab- 
lished by  law ;  but  the  Congress  may  by  law  vest  the  appoint- 
ment of  such  inferior  officers,  as  they  think  proper  in  the 
president  alone,  in  the  courts  of  law,  or  in  the  heads  of 
departments. 

The  president  shall  have  power  to  fill  up  all  vacancies  that 
may  happen  during  the  recess  of  the  Senate,  by  granting  com- 
missions which  shall  expire  at  the  end  of  their  next  session. 

SEC.  3.  He  shall  from  time  to  time  give  to  the  Congress 
information  of  the  states  of  the  Union,  and  recommend  to  their 
consideration  such  measures  as  he  shall  judge  necessary  and 
expedient ;  he  may,  on  extraordinary  occasions,  convene  both 
Houses,  or  either  of  them,  and  in  case  of  disagreement  between 
them  with  respect  to  the  time  of  adjournment,  he  may  adjourn 
them  to  such  time  as  he  may  think  proper;  he  shall  receive 
ambassadors  and  other  public  ministers  ;  he  shall  take  care  that 
the  laws  be  faithfully  executed,  and  shall  commission  all  the 
officers  of  the  United  States. 

SEC.  4.  The  president,  vice-president,  and  all  civil  officers 
of  the  United  States,  shall  be  removed  from  office  on  impeach- 
ment for,  and  conviction  of  treason,  bribery,  or  other  high 
crimes  and  misdemeanors. 

AKTICLE  III. 

SECTION"  1.  The  judicial  power  of  the  United  States  shall 
be  vested  in  one  supreme  court,  and  in  such  inferior  courts  as 
the  Congress  may  from  time  to  time  ordain  and  establish.  The 
judges,  both  of  the  supreme  and  inferior  courts,  shall  hold  their 
offices  during  good  behavior,  and  shall,  at  stated  times,  receive 
for  their  services  a  compensation  which  shall  not  be  diminished 
during  their  continuance  in  office. 

SEC.  2.  The  judicial  power  shall  extend  to  all  cases,  in  law 
and  equity,  arising  under  this  constitution,  the  laws  of  tho 
United  States  and  treaties  made.,  or  which  shall  be  made,  under 
their  authority;  to  all  cases  affecting  ambassadors,  other  public 
ministers  and  consuls;  to  all  cases  of  admiralty  and  maritime 


522  THE   CONSTITUTION   OF 

jurisdiction;  to  controversies  to  which  the  United  States  shall  be 
a  party;  to  controversies  between  two  or  more  states;  between  a 
state  and  citizens  of  another  state;  between  citizens  of  different 
states ;  between  citizens  of  the  same  state  claiming  lands  under 
grants,  of  different  states,  and  between  a  state,  or  the  citizens 
thereof,  and  foreign  states,  citizens  or  subjects. 

In  all  cases  affecting  ambassadors,  other  public  ministers  and 
consuls,  and  those  in  which  a  state  shall  be  party,  the  supreme 
court  shall  have  original  jurisdiction.  In  all  other  cases  before 
mentioned  the  supreme  court  shall  have  appellate  jurisdiction, 
both  as  to  law  and  fact,  with  such  exceptions  and  under  such 
regulations  as  the  Congress  shall  make. 

The  trial  of  all  crimes,  except  in  cases  of  impeachment, 
shall  be  by  jury,  and  such  trial  shall  be  held  in  the  state  where 
the  said  crimes  shall  have  been  committed,  but  when  not  com- 
mitted within  any  state  the  trial  shall  be  at  such  place  or  places 
as  the  Congress  may  by  law  have  directed. 

SEC.  3.  Treason  against  the  United  States  shall  consist  only 
in  levying  war  against  them,  or  in  adhering  to  their  enemies, 
giving  them  aid  and  comfort.  Ko  person  shall  be  convicted  of 
treason  unless  on  the  testimony  of  two  witnesses  to  the  same 
overt  act,  or  on  confession  in  open  court. 

The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  declare  the  punishment  of 
treason,  but  no  attainder  of  treason  shall  work  corruption  of 
blood  or  forfeiture  except  during  the  life  of  the  person  attained. 

ARTICLE   IV. 

SECTION  1.  Full  faith  and  credit  shall  be  given  in  each 
state  to  the  public  acts,  records  and  judicial  proceedings  of  every 
other  state,  and  the  Congress  may,  by  general  laws,  prescribe 
the  manner  in  which  such  acts,  records  and  proceedings  shall  be 
proved,  and  the  effect  thereof. 

SEC.  2.  The  citizens  of  each  state  shall  be  entitled  to  all 
privileges  and  immunities  of  citizens  in  the  several  states. 

A  person  charged  in  any  state  with  treason,  felony  or  other 
crime,  who  shall  flee  from  justice,  and  be  found  in  another 
state,  shall,  on  demand  of  the  executive  authority  of  the  state 


THE   UNITED   STATES.  523 

from  which  he  fled,  be  delivered  up  to  be  removed  to  the  state 
having  jurisdiction  of  the  crime. 

No  person  held  to  service  or  labor  in  one  state,  under  the 
laws  thereof,  escaping  into  another,  shall,  in  consequence  of  any 
law  or  regulation  therein,  be  discharged  from  such  service  01 
labor,  but  shall  be  delivered  up  on  claim  of  the  party  to  whom 
such  service  or  labor  may  be  due. 

SEC.  3.  New  states  may  be  admitted  by  the  Congress  into 
this  Union  ;  but  no  new  state  shall  be  formed  or  erected  within 
the  jurisdiction  of  any  other  state ;  nor  any  state  be  formed  by 
the  junction  of  two  or  more  states,  or  parts  of  states,  without 
the  consent  of  the  Legislatures  of  the  states  concerned  as  well  as 
of  the  Congress. 

The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  dispose  of  and  make  all 
needful  rules  and  regulations  respecting  the  territory  or  other 
property  belonging  to  the  United  States ;  and  nothing  in  this 
constitution  shall  be  so  construed  as  to  prejudice  any  claims  of 
the  United  States,  or  of  any  particular  state. 

SEC.  4.  The  United  States  shall  guarantee  to  every  state  in 
this  Union  a  republican  form  of  government,  and  shall  protect  each 
of  them  against  invasion  ;  and  on  application  of  the  Legislature, 
or  of  the  executive  (when  the  Legislature  cannot  be  convened), 
against  domestic  violence. 

ARTICLE  V. 

The  Congress,  whenever  two  thirds  of  both  Houses  shall 
deem  it  necessary,  shall  propose  amendments  to  this  constitu- 
tion, or,  on  the  application  of  the  Legislatures  of  two  thirds  of 
the  several  states,  shall  call  a  convention  for  proposing  amerd- 
ments,  which,  in  either  case,  shall  be  valid  to  all  intents  and 
purposes,  as  part  of  this  constitution,  when  ratified  by  the 
Legislatures  of  three  fourths  of  the  several  states,  or  by  conven- 
tions in  three  fourths  thereof,  as  the  one  or  the  other  mode  of 
ratification  may  be  proposed  by  the  Congress ;  provided  that 
no  amendment  which  may  be  made  prior  to  the  year  one  thou- 
sand eight  hundred  and  eight,  shall  in  any  manner  affect  the 
first  and  fourth  clauses  in  the  ninth  section  of  the  first  article; 


524  THE   CONSTITUTION   OF 

and  that  no  state,  without  its  consent,  shall  be  deprived  of  its 
equal  suffrage  in  the  Senate. 

ARTICLE  VI. 

All  debts  contracted  and  engagements  entered  into,  before 
the  adoption  of  this  constitution,  shall  be  as  valid  against  the 
United  States  under  this  constitution,  as  under  the  con- 
federation. 

This  constitution,  and  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  which 
shall  be  made  in  pursuance  thereof,  and  all  treaties  made,  or 
which  shall  be  made,  under  the  authority  of  the  United  States, 
shall  be  the  supreme  law  of  the  land  ;  and  the  judges  in  every 
state  shall  be  bound  thereby,  anything  in  the  constitution  or 
laws  of  any  state  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding. 

The  senators  and  representatives  before  mentioned,  and  the 
members  of  the  several  State  Legislatures,  and  all  executive  and 
judicial  officers,  both  of  the  United  States  and  the  several  states, 
shall  be  bound  by  oath  or  affirmation  to  support  this  constitu- 
tion ;  but  no  religious  test  shall  ever  be  required  as  a  qualifica- 
tion to  any  office  or  public  trust  under  the  United  States. 

ARTICLE  VII. 

The  ratification  of  the  conventions  of  nine  states  shall  be 
sufficient  for  the  establishment  of  this  constitution  between  the 
states  so  ratifying  the  same. 

Done  in  convention  by  the  unanimous  consent  of  the  states 
present,  the  seventeenth  day  of  September,  in  the  year  of  our 
Lord  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  eighty-seven,  and  of  the 
independence  of  the  United  States  of  America  the  twelfth. 
In  witness  whereof  we  have  hereunto  subscribed  our  names. 

GEORGE  WASHINGTON, 
President  and  Deputy  from  Virginia. 
New  Hampshire. 
JOHN  LANGDON.  NICHOLAS  OILMAN. 

Massachusetts. 
NATHANIEL  GORHAM.  RUFUS  KING. 


THE   UNITED  STATES.  525 

Connecticut. 
WILLIAM  SAMUEL  JOHNSON.     ROGER  SHERMAN. 

New  York. 
ALEXANDER  HAMILTON. 

New  Jersey. 

WILLIAM  LIVINGSTON.  WILLIAM  PATERSOIT. 

DAVID  BREARLEY.  JONA  DAYTON. 

Pennsylvania. 

BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN.  THOMAS  FITZSIMONS. 

THOMAS  MIFFLIN.  JARED  INGERSOLL. 

ROBERT  MORRIS.  JAMES  WILSON. 

GEORGE  CLYMER.  GOVERNEUR  MORRIS. 

Delaware. 

GEORGE  READ.  RICHARD  BASSETT. 

GUNNING  BEDFORD,  JR.  JACOB  BROOM. 

JOHN  DICKINSON. 

Maryland. 

JAMES  MCHENRY.  DANIEL  CARROLL. 

'  DAN  OF  ST.  THOMAS  JENIFER. 

Virginia. 
JOHN  BLAIR.  JAMES  MADISON,  JB. 

North  Carolina. 

WILLIAM  BLOUNT.  HUGH  WILLIAMSON. 

RICHARD  DOBBS  SPRAIGHT. 

South  Carolina. 

J.  RUTLEDGE.  CHARLES  PINCKNEY. 

CHAS.  COTESWORTH  PINCKNEY.  PIERCE  BUTLER. 

Georgia. 
WILLIAM  FEW.  ABRAHAM  BALDWIN. 

(Attest.)        WILLIAM  JACKSON,  Secretary. 


526  THE   CONSTITUTION   OF 


AETICLES  IN"  ADDITION"  TO  AND   AMENDMENT  OF  THE  CONSTITU- 
TION   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES    OF    AMERICA,    PEOPOSED 
BY   CONGRESS,  AND    RATIFIED    BY   THE   LEGISLATURES  OF 
-THE    SEVERAL    STATES,    PURSUANT    TO   THE   FIFTH    ARTI- 
CLE OF  THE    ORIGINAL   CONSTITUTION. 

ARTICLE  I. 

Congress  shall  make  no  law  respecting  an  establishment  of 
religion,  or  prohibiting  the  free  exercise  thereof;  or  abridging 
the  freedom  of  speech,  or  of  the  press,  or  the  right  of  the  peo- 
ple, peaceably  to  assemble,  and  to  petition  the  government  for  a 
redress  of  grievances. 

ARTICLE  II. 

A  well-regulated  militia  being  necessary  to  the  security  of  a 
free  state,  the  right  of  the  people  to  keep  and  bear  arms  shall 
not  be  infringed. 

ARTICLE  III. 

No  soldier  shall,  in  time  of  peace,  be  quartered  in  any  house 
without  the  consent  of  the  owner,  nor  in  time  of  war,  but  in  a 
manner  to  be  prescribed  by  law. 

ARTICLE  IV. 

The  right  of  the  people  to  be  secure  in  their  persons,  houses, 
papers  and  effects,  against  unreasonable  searches  and  seizures, 
shall  not  be  violated,  and  no  warrants  shall  issue,  but  upon 
probable  cause,  supported  by  oath  or  affirmation,  and  particu- 
larly describing  the  place  to  be  searched,  and  the  persons  or 
things  to  be  seized. 

ARTICLE  V. 

No  person  shall  be  held  to  answer  for  a  capital,  or  other  infa- 
mous crime,  unless  on  a  presentment  or  indictment  of  a  grand 
jury,  except  in  cases  arising  in  the  land  or  naval  forces,  or  in  tho 


THE   UNITED   STATES.  527 

militia,  when  in  actual  service  in  time  of  war  or  public  danger: 
nor  shall  any  person  be  subject,  for  the  same  offense  to  be  twice 
put  in  jeopardy  of  life  or  limb;  nor  shall  be  compelled  in  any 
criminal  case  to  be  a  witness  against  himself,  nor  be  deprived  of 
life,  liberty  or  property,  without  due  process  of  law;  nor  shall 
private  property  be  taken  for  public  use,  without  just  compen- 
sation. 

AETICLE  VI. 

In  all  criminal  prosecutions  the  accused  shall  enjoy  the 
right  to  a  speedy  and  public  trial,  by  an  impartial  jury  of  the 
state  and  district  wherein  the  crime  shall  have  been  committed, 
which  district  shall  have  been  previously  ascertained  by  law, 
and  to  be  informed  of  the  nature  and  cause  of  the  accusation; 
to  be  confronted  with  the  witnesses  against  him  ;  to  have  com- 
pulsory process  for  obtaining  witnesses  in  his  favor,  and  to  have 
the  assistance  of  counsel  for  his  defense. 

AKTICLE  VII. 

In  suits  at  common  law,  where  the  value  in  controversy  shall 
exceed  twenty  dollars,  the  right  of  trial  by  jury  shall  be  pre- 
served, and  no  fact  tried  by  a  jury  shall  be  otherwise  re-examined 
in  any  court  of  the  United  States  than  according  to  the  rules  of 
the  common  law. 

ARTICLE  VIII. 

Excessive  bail  shall  not  be  required,  nor  excessive  fines 
imposed,  nor  cruel  and  unusual  punishments  inflicted. 

ARTICLE   IX. 

The  enumeration  in  the  constitution  of  certain  rights  shall 
not  be  construed  to  deny  or  disparage  others  retained  by  the 
people. 

ARTICLE   X. 

The  powers  not  delegated  to  the  United  States  by  the  consti- 
tution, nor  prohibited  by  it  to  the  states,  are  reserved  to  the 
states  respectively,  or  to  the  people. 


528  THE  CONSTITUTION  OF 

ARTICLE  XI. 

The  judicial  power  of  the  United  States  shall  not  be  con- 
strued to  extend  to  any  suit  in  law  or  equity,  commenced  or 
prosecuted  against  one  of  the  United  States  by  citizens  of 
another  state,  or  by  citizens  or  subjects  of  any  foreign  state. 

ARTICLE  XII. 

The  electors  shall  meet  in  their  respective  states,  and  vote  by 
ballot  for  president  and  vice-president,  one  of  whom,  at  least, 
shall  not  be  an  inhabitant  of  the  same  state  with  themselves; 
they  shall  name  in  their  ballots  the  person  voted  for  as  president, 
and  in  distinct  ballots  the  person  voted  for  as  vice-president, 
and  they  shall  make  distinct  lists  of  all  persons  voted  for  as 
president,  and  of  all  persons  voted  for  as  vice-president,  and  of 
the  number  of  votes  for  each,  which  lists  they  shall  sign  and 
certify,  and  transmit  sealed  to  the  seat  of  the  government  of  the 
United  States,  directed  to  the  president  of  the  Senate.  The 
president  of  the  Senate  shall,  in  the  presence  of  the  Senate  and 
House  of  Representatives,  open  all  the  certificates,  and  the  votes 
shall  then  be  counted.  The  person  having  the  greatest  number 
of  votes  for  president,  shall  be  the  president,  if  such  number  be 
a  majority  of  the  whole  number  of  electors  appointed;  and  if  no 
person  have  such  majority,  then  j.rom  the  persons  having  the 
highest  numbers,  not  exceeding  three  on  the  list  of  those  voted 
for  as  president,  the  House  of  Representatives  shall  choose  imme- 
diately, by  ballot,  the  president.  But  in  choosing  the  president, 
thf  vote  shall  be  taken  by  states,  the  representation  from  each 
state  having  one  vote ;  a  quorum  for  this  purpose  shall  consist 
of  a  member  or  members  from  two  thirds  of  the  states,  and  a 
majority  of  all  the  states  shall  be  necessary  to  a  choice.  And  if 
the  House  of  Representatives  shall  not  choose  a  president,  when- 
ever the  right  of  choice  shall  devolve  upon  them,  before  the 
fourth  day  of  March  next  following,  then  the  vice-president 
shall  act  as  president,  as  in  the  case  of  death,  or  other  constitu- 
tional disability  of  the  president.  The  person  having  the  greatest 
number  of  votes  as  vice-president,  shall  be  vice-president,  if  such 


THE  tINITED  STATES.  529 

number  be  a  majority  of  the  whole  number  of  electors  appointed, 
and  if  no  person  have  a  majority,  then  from  the  two  highest 
numbers  on  the  list,  the  Senate  shall  choose  the  vice-president; 
a  quorum  for  the  purpose  shall  consist  of  two-thirds  of  the 
whole  number  of  senators,  and  a  majority  of  the  whole  number 
shall  be  necessary  to  a  choice.  But  no  person  constitutionally 
ineligible  to  the  office  of  president  shall  be  eligible  to  that  of 
vice-president  of  the  United  States . 

ARTICLE  XIII. 

SECTION  1.  Neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude,  except 
as  a  punishment  for  crime  whereof  the  party  shall  have  been 
duly  convicted,  shall  exist  within  the  United  States,  or  any  place 
subject  to  its  jurisdiction. 

SEC.  2.  Congress  shall  have  power  to  enforce  this  article  by 
appropriate  legislation. 

ARTICLE  XIV. 

SECTION  1.  All  persons  born  or  naturalized  in  the  United 
States,  and  subject  to  the  jurisdiction  thereof,  are  citizens  of  the 
United  States  and  of  the  state  wherein  they  reside. 

No  state  shall  make  or  enforce  any  law  which  shall  abridge 
the  privileges  or  immunities  of  citizens  of  the  United  States; 
nor  shall  any  state  deprive  any  person  of  life,  liberty  or  property 
without  due  process  of  law;  nor  deny  to  any  person  within  its 
jurisdiction  the  equal  protection  of  its  laws. 

SEC.  2.  Representatives  shall  be  apportioned  among  the 
states  according  to  their  respective  numbers,  counting  the  whole 
number  of  persons  in  each  state,  excluding  Indians  not  taxed. 
But  when  the  right  to  vote  at  any  election  for  the  choice  of 
electors  for  president  and  vice-president  of  the  United  States, 
representatives  in  Congress,  the  executive  and  judicial  officers 
of  the  state,  or  the  members  of  the  Legislature  thereof,  is  denied 
to  any  of  the  male  inhabitants  of  such  state,  being  twenty-one 
years  of  age,  and  citizens  of  the  United  States,  or  in  any  way 
abridged,  except  for  participation  in  rebellion,  or  other  crime, 


830  THE   CONSTITUTION   OF  THE   UNITED   STATES. 

the  basis  of  representation  therein  shall  be  reduced  in  the 
proportion  which  the  number  of  such  male  citizens  shall  bear 
to  the  whole  number  of  male  citizens  twenty-one  years  of  age 
iii  such  state. 

SEC.  3.  No  person  shall  be  a  senator  or  representative  in 
Congress,  or  elector  of  president  or  vice-president,  or  hold  any 
office,  civil  or  military,  under  the  United  States,  or  under  any 
state,  who,  having  previously  taken  an  oath,  as  a  member  of 
Congress,  or  an  officer  of  the  United  States,  or  a  member  of 
any  state  Legislature,  or  as  an  executive  or  judicial  officer  of 
any  state,  to  support  the  constitution  of  the  United  States, 
shall  have  engaged  in  insurrection  or  rebellion  against  the  same, 
or  given  aid  or  comfort  to  the  enemies  thereof.  But  Congress 
may,  by  a  vote  of  two-thirds  of  each  House,  remove  such 
disability. 

SEC.  4.  The  validity  of  the  public  debt  of  the  United 
States,  authorized  by  law,  including  debts  incurred  for  pay- 
ment of  pensions  and  bounties  for  services  in  suppressing  insur- 
rection or  rebellion,  shall  not  be  questioned.  But  neither  the 
United  States,  nor  any  state  shall  assume  or  pay  any  debt  or 
obligation  incurred  in  aid  of  insurrection  or  rebellion  against 
the  United  States,  nor  any  claim  for  the  loss  or  emancipation  of 
any  slave;  but  all  such  debts,  obligations  and  claims  shall  be 
held  illegal  and  void. 

SEC.  5.  Congress  shall  have  power  to  enforce,  by  appropriate 
legislation,  the  provisions  of  this  article. 

AETICLE  XV. 

SECTION  I.  The  right  of  the  citizens  of  the  United  States 
to  vote  shall  not  be  denied  or  abridged  by  the  United  States,  or 
by  any  state  on  account  of  race,  color,  or  previous  condition  of 
servitude. 

SEC.  2.  The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  enforce  this 
article  by  appropriate  legislation. 


A     000  045  753     1 


